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By: Eric Eisenberg When Star Wars Episode VII was first announced the internet went nuts suggesting possible directors to helm the project. Fans and journalists alike threw out names like J.J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, and Steven Spielberg, but of the dozens of names none sounded better in my mind than Brad Bird. Beyond the fact that the guy has done nothing but produce awesome work since first entering the industry – such as the early years of The Simpsons,Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – the man simply has an amazing directorial mind and an brilliant sense of story and structure. But I am incredibly sad to report that Bird will not be the man put in charge of leading the next generation of Star Wars. Despite the fact that fans even went as far as to create a campaign video promoting the idea of hiring the director for the job, Bird took to his Twitter account this evening to officially announce that he will not be making Episode VII, responding to a fan’s comment about the legendary franchise. Responding to even more questions, he did say that he is currently working on another science fiction project, titled 1952 (which was recently rumored to have George Clooney interested). That film, however, has not yet gotten the green light from Disney, but there is a script from Damon Lindelof and it’s said to be a “Close Encounters-esque tentpole.” And while Bird may not be helming Star Wars Episode VII, that doesn’t mean he’s not excited for it. So where do you go from here? Both Abrams and Spielberg have said no, but then again Joe Johnston and Jon Favreau have said that they would be interested in giving it a shot. If Bird isn’t doing it, who is your next choice? Source: Cinema Blend

The website for the 103rd Annual Conference in New York City, to be held from Wednesday, February 11 to Saturday, February 14, 2015 at the Hilton New York Midtown, is now live. Get a taste of conference highlights and discover all that comes with registration, including access to all program sessions and admission to the Book and Trade Fair. The CAA Annual Conference is the world’s largest international forum for professionals in the visual arts, offering more than two hundred stimulating sessions, panel discussions, roundtables, and meetings. CAA anticipates that more than five thousand artists, art historians, students, curators, critics, educators, art administrators, and museum professionals will be in attendance at the New York Hilton Midtown, where most sessions and events will take place. Online registration is now open, and hotel reservations and travel accommodations can be booked—don’t forget to use the exclusive CAA discount codes to save money! Register before the early deadline, December 12, to get the lowest rate and ensure your place in the Directory of Attendees. You may also purchase tickets for special events such as the Opening Reception at the Museum of Modern Art following the presentation of the annual Awards for Distinction, as well as for professional-development workshops on a variety of topics for artists and scholars. CAA will regularly update the conference website in the months leading up to the four-day event, so please be sure to check back often. Averaging more than 40,000 unique visitors per month, the Annual Conference website is the essential source for up-to-the-minute updates regarding registration, session listings, and hotel and travel discounts, and more. For those interested in reaching this captive audience, please download the Website Advertising Reservation and Contract for rates and terms. We look forward to seeing you in New York! Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives. Detroit Institute of Arts Will Sue If the City’s Bankruptcy Plan Is Not Approved The Detroit Institute of Arts is prepared to sue to prevent the sale of its collection if Detroit’s plan for exiting bankruptcy is not approved, the museum’s chief operating officer told the US Bankruptcy Court last week. When Detroit filed for the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy fourteen months ago, the museum began preparing for possible litigation to keep its artworks from being sold to pay city creditors. (Read more from Reuters.) What to Expect from Artist Residencies Artist residencies can be an incredible way to expand and improve your art practice, but getting into the right one can be a challenge. I’ve completed residency programs in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Through this process, I’ve learned how to pick the right residency and how to use one residency experience to gain another. Here’s my advice for anyone wishing to dive into the artist residency circuit. (Read more from BurnAway.) Artists Raising Kids: Thoughts on How to Have It All This summer, Creative Capital conducted a survey entitled “Artists-As-Parents” to find out how working artists sustain their practice while also being busy parents (or prepare themselves to do so as parents-to-be). We received nearly six hundred responses, giving us a good idea of the profile of artist-parents in our network, the challenges they face, and the strategies they use to maximize their time and productivity. (Read more from Creative Capital.) Scholars Take Aim at Student Evaluations’ “Air of Objectivity” Student course evaluations are often misused statistically and shed little light on the quality of teaching, two scholars at the University of California, Berkeley, argue in the draft of a new paper. Even though evaluations have become ubiquitous in academe, they remain controversial because they often assume a high-stakes role in determining tenure and promotion. But they persist because they are easy to produce, administer, and tabulate, said Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at Berkeley, in an interview. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.) We Asked Twenty Women “Is the Art World Biased?” Here’s What They Said Artnet News has noticed that bias, both conscious and unconscious, is rampant throughout the world. It’s in the umpteenth exhibition not featuring a woman. It’s in the evening auction whose top winners are male. It’s in art schools the world over, germinating and putting down roots. What to do? We canvassed women collectors, dealers, curators, advisers, and artists to find out their responses to the question “Is the art world biased?” (Read more from Artnet News.) Why Original Artworks Move Us More Than Reproductions Now that we can view high-definition reproductions of virtually any artwork from our computer screens, why do people visit art museums anyway? Sure, arranging individual pieces into compelling exhibitions enhances our appreciation, but it’s doubtful that people come for the curation. Clearly, encountering original artworks in person is a unique experience. But why? (Read more from Pacific Standard.) Who Funds the Arts and Why We Should Care Anyone passing through Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall one recent Saturday might have witnessed an unscheduled performance by a group of people writhing beneath a huge square of black cloth. Taking its motif from the Malevich exhibition at Tate, the event was designed to flag the museum’s refusal to reveal details of its financial relationship with BP. It was the latest in a series of protests about the sponsorship of institutions—among them the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery—by the energy giant responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010. (Read more from the Financial Times.) Crimes against Dissertation Humanities Since I left academia in 2013, I’ve had a part-time job as something called a “dissertation coach.” I work one-on-one with a stable of about a dozen private clients, helping them manage both their workload and the emotional vicissitudes of graduate school. And no matter their field—I’ve worked with scientists, engineers, sociologists, psychologists, historians, and literary scholars—one thing remains the same: my services simply would not be necessary if the faculty advisers of the world saw fit to do their jobs. (Read more from Vitae.) posted by CAA — September 24, 2014 We are writing to ask for your insights regarding practices in new media by taking the following survey: http://bit.ly/CAAsurvey – this should take approximately 20 minutes for you to complete. The information gathered from this survey will be used to assist the CAA Professional Practices Committee Taskforce on updating and improving the existing CAA Guidelines for Faculty Teaching in New Media, which can be found at http://www.collegeart.org/guidelines/newmedia07. This document is a description of circumstances, standards, and practices within the field. Its purpose is to assist with faculty hiring, promotion and tenure, workload, compensation, funding, and support in new media, and to provide information about faculty working in this area that could be used in making accurate and comprehensive evaluations. Our aim is to revise these guidelines into order to the better reflect current practices, and to ensure that it is a useful document for all stakeholders. In February 2015 we will be making initial recommendations for revision, based on this survey and interviews with those in the field. Our goal is to have the updated document(s) approved by the CAA Board by May 2016. If you are interested in being interviewed by our committee members, please contact us at email@example.com. In addition, we ask that you forward this email to your colleagues, whose input is valuable. In addition to New Media Faculty, we would especially like to involve colleagues with administrative duties overseeing practitioners who work with new media as well as part-time and contingent faculty in this survey. The survey will end on November 15, 2014. We thank you for your time, and look forward to your input. CAA Professional Practices Committee Taskforce on New Media Guidelines: Paul Catanese, Columbia College Chicago Rachel Clarke, California State University, Sacramento Chris Coleman, University of Denver Michael Grillo, The University of Maine Heidi May, Columbus State University Ellen Mueller, West Virginia Wesleyan College Joanna Spitzner, Syracuse University Amy Youngs, The Ohio State University JPASS, a new JSTOR access plan for individuals, is ideal for CAA members who want individual access to JSTOR’s rich archival collections. It is especially valuable for individuals without institutional access; faculty members at institutions with limited access to JSTOR; and adjuncts with irregular access to library resources. Regardless of your professional affiliation, JPASS serves as your personal library card to the expansive selection of journals on JSTOR. As part of your CAA membership, you may purchase a one-year JPASS access plan for $99—a 50 percent discount on the listed rate! JPASS includes unlimited reading and up to 120 article downloads—not only to The Art Bulletin and Art Journal but also to more than 1,500 humanities, social science, and science journals in the JSTOR archival collections, including Design Issues, Gesta, Muqarnas, and October. CAA invites you to review the JPASS collections at http://jpass.jstor.org/collections, where you can view all the journal titles and date ranges that are available to JPASS subscribers, as well as filter titles by subject to help you discover publications of interest to you. Dedicated support personnel for JPASS are available Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:30 PM EDT. You can also get real-time support via Twitter: @JSTORSupport. Here are other ways to learn more: - Email: firstname.lastname@example.org - Phone (toll free): 888-388-3574 (option 2) - JPASS FAQs: http://jpass.jstor.org/faq - JPASS web form: http://bit.ly/1940drP To use your member discount to sign up for JPASS, log into your CAA account and click the Member Benefits link on the left and then refer to the JPASS instructions which includes the JSTOR custom link. This will admit you to the JPASS purchase website for CAA members. JSTOR provides access to the complete back runs of CAA’s journals and preserves them in a long-term archive. Users may search, browse, view, and print full-text, high-resolution PDFs of articles from The Art Bulletin (published since 1913) and Art Journal (published since 1929). Coverage in JSTOR includes the journals’ previous titles from their first issues through 2010. Because of a moving wall that changes annually, the most recent three years (2011–13) are not yet available. The Art Bulletin and Art Journal are available through JSTOR’s Arts & Sciences III Collection. Users at participating institutions can gain access to these two journals through their institutions—contact your librarian to find out if you are eligible and, if so, how to access the journals. In a separate benefit, CAA offers online access to back issues of its two print publications for CAA members unaffiliated with an institution for $20 a year through a special arrangement with JSTOR. Please contact CAA’s Member Services if you have questions about this benefit. Paula Carabell received her PhD from Columbia University in 1994 with a dissertation on the work of Michelangelo and Titian. She has published on Renaissance and contemporary art and currently teaches at Pratt Institute. It is with great sadness that I write that David Rosand, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History Emeritus at Columbia University, died on August 8, 2014, at the age of 75. Known for his work on Titian and Veronese and for his breadth of knowledge in the field, he maintained a long association with Columbia, which he attended as both an undergraduate and a graduate student, subsequently joining the faculty of the Department of Art History and Archaeology in 1964, where he remained until he taught his last class in 2013. Rosand’s many students will remember him as a kind, generous, erudite, and elegant scholar who extended his expertise and help even to those whose areas of research went beyond his own field, the Italian Renaissance. Rosand was, above all, a passionate and dedicated advocate of the art of Renaissance Venice, An active member of Save Venice, he served on the foundation’s board of directors from 1998 onward and acted as project director from 2003 until his death. So that future generations might also come to know and love Venice, he was instrumental in acquiring the residence of one his own mentors and colleagues, Michelangelo Murano, past director of the Ca’ d’Oro museum, which now serves as the Columbia University Center for Study in Venice at Casa Murano. This seems a fitting legacy for one who, as a graduate student, expressed concern to his teacher, the legendary Rudolf Wittkower, that Venice was sinking—to which Wittkower replied, “Tsk, tsk, it will be there as long as you need it.” And thankfully for all who heard him lecture or who read his work, so it was. It was, of course, to the art of Titian that he dedicated the largest part of his career. As an undergraduate at Columbia in the 1950s, Rosand, who had been an editor and cartoonist for the school’s humor magazine the Jester, had considered becoming a painter and, as such, would have become part of the Abstract Expressionist movement. This, however, never came to pass despite encouragement and an offer of studio space from his undergraduate mentor. In an oft-repeated story, Rosand recalled that “the prospect of being alone with a canvas so frightened me that I came back and threw myself into art history.” It was, however, the idea of the brushstroke and the painterly gesture that ultimately stayed with him, and the transition from the New York School of painting to the art of the Serenissima proved to be a natural one. As the artist Willem de Kooning had pointed out, “flesh is the reason that oil paint was invented,” and Rosand explored this notion most thoroughly in the work of Titian. Standing with him once at the Titian, Prince of Painters exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, I marveled at how intensely he searched the surface of the canvas, how he seemed to perceive nuances of painterly gesture that it appeared only he could see. And indeed it was the interaction of oil paint and canvas, of pen and paper, of chisel and stone, to which Rosand always returned. His injunction to “always start with the object” proved to be sound advice in an age of art-historical scholarship that all too often turned to issues that seemed to eschew the very act of image making. Rosand was an eloquent writer who instilled in his students an appreciation for the poetic aspects of both word and image. Whether it was about Titian’s sensual poesia created for Philip II or the final Pietà that the artist had intended for his own tomb, Rosand made one aware of the deeper levels of meaning that adhered to the work itself, most notably, the pathos inherent in the art of painting. It is to that sense of pathos that we return upon his passing. It is not only that we will be deprived of further publications like his many contributions to scholarly journals or such major works as Painting in Cinquecento Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto (1982), The Meaning of the Mark: Leonardo and Titian (1988), and Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State (2001), plus important monographs on Titian and Veronese, but to the man himself. To those who knew him, we will miss the way that Rosand seem to glide through the halls of Schermerhorn, how in the classroom his lectures seemed to meander in an evocative circle of images and ideas and then culminate in a burst of wisdom and insight, and, of course, his favorite call to arms, “coraggio,” when we began to question our own work. Rosand was accorded many honors and earned the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates in 1997 and the Award for Distinguished Service to the Core Curriculum from the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia in 2000. He received recognition from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In May 2014, Rosand was awarded the degree of doctor of letters, honoris causa, from Columbia to recognize his many contributions to the field of art history and to the life of the university. David Rosand, who died of cardiac amyloidosis, is survived by his wife Ellen Rosand, professor of music at Yale University; by his sons Jonathan, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Eric, a senior counterterrorism policy official at the US State Department; and by five grandsons. He will be greatly missed by the many whose lives he touched. Richard Edwards is professor emeritus of the history of Chinese art at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. My recollections of John M. Rosenfield, one of the preeminent historians and curators of Asian Art who taught for decades at Harvard University, are vivid and convey my sense of loss upon learning of his death, on December 16, 2013, at the age of 89. We shared the same “vibrations” as we passed through the life of our careers, hopefully to our mutual profit but certainly to mine. His book on Chōgen’s wooden portraiture is beside me as I write these words. Rosenfield was a consistently energetic force in our field from the time we were in graduate school together. Our view of the Far East was nurtured during the 1950s in the musty yet friendly basement environment of Harvard’s Rubell Library, where the books on Asian art were kept, under the guiding hand of Benjamin Rowland. John had an extraordinary sense of personal relations. We will never forget how closely related he was to this personal approach. He was not just a professional. He was a great man because he was a warm-hearted person, one whom you could always meet on a personal level, a quality seldom found in those too wrapped up in their professional duties and accomplishments. It goes without saying we shared an interest in the world of art, but in addition his memory is warmly related to activities of our whole family. Along with his intellectual skill, this made him a great man to us. We lived in the same rented house serially, at Teramachi Imadegawa-angaru Junenji-mai in Kyoto, not far from the Imperial Palace grounds, in 1958–59. Later the Rosenfields lived there in 1964, and we took up occupancy again in the summer of 1964 after their departure. John reached out to my children and family, who remember how welcoming he and his wife Ella were when we stopped over in Los Angeles and stayed with them on our way to the Far East. He was especially helpful to my daughter, Joan, a college sophomore at the time (1968/69), who was apartment hunting in Boston having found a summer job there. She did not meet with immediate success, and as John drove her to various locations he reassured her that the “Perfect Pumpkin is somewhere,” instilling hope that the ideal apartment was just around the corner. If one is willing to share family matters with a friend, it isa clear indication of resilience in dealing with the inevitable problems of living. His kindness to our family was an emanation of warmth from his own with Ella and his two children, Sarah and Paul Thomas. My lateness in expressing my thoughts in no way diminishes the shock and bereavement felt at having to relinquish such a constant friend and insightful scholar so superior in humanity. Would that he were still working among us. Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives. Introduction to 2012–13 Humanities Departmental Survey The American Academy of Arts and Sciences initiated the Humanities Departmental Survey, first administered in 2008, to fill critical gaps in knowledge about the state of the humanities in higher education—specifically, about the number of faculty and students in the field and the role of humanities departments in their institutions and society. Apart from trends in the number of students receiving degrees in humanities disciplines, data sources about the state of the humanities at the national level have fallen away over the past fifteen years, leaving decision-makers without key guideposts during a time of change in higher education. (Read more from Humanities Indicators.) On Trigger Warnings A current threat to academic freedom in the classroom comes from a demand that teachers provide warnings in advance if assigned material contains anything that might trigger difficult emotional responses for students. This follows from earlier calls not to offend students’ sensibilities by introducing material that challenges their values and beliefs. The specific call for “trigger warnings” began in the blogosphere as a caution about graphic descriptions of rape on feminist sites, and has now migrated to university campuses in the form of requirements or proposals that students be alerted to all manner of topics that some believe may deeply offend and even set off a PTSD response in some individuals. (Read more from the American Association of University Professors.) Creative Schools: The Artists Taking Art Education into Their Own Hands Several artists and arts professionals, spotting the same or similar failures in the UK’s official education programs at both schools and universities, have taken matters into their own hands. If the government’s curriculum changes, funding cuts, and fees are barring the way to education for many aspiring artists, independent initiatives might offer alternative routes into the creative industry. Who’s leading the way? (Read more from Apollo.) Getting a Reference When You’re New I just graduated with my PhD and am beginning my job as a one-year visiting assistant professor this fall. My first applications for this year’s job market are due about two weeks after the semester starts; most applications will be due by midterm. Will hiring committees be expecting a recommendation from my new colleagues? I don’t think they would be able to write a strong letter after knowing me for a month, but I also don’t want the lack of letters to throw up any red flags. (Read more from Vitae.) Peer Review and Careers I have no doubt that the humanities disciplines are, on the whole, the worst offenders when it comes to how long it takes to generate reader reports, and to move an article from an initial submission to a finished, published product. If it can take two years to publish humanities research in some traditional, print-based journals—and I’m talking articles here, not books—that lag makes it harder than ever to defend the project of humanities disciplines. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.) Hidden Monuments under Stonehenge Revealed by High-Tech Mapping An astonishing complex of ancient monuments, buildings, and barrows has lain hidden and unsuspected beneath the Stonehenge area for thousands of years. Scientists discovered the site using sophisticated techniques to see underground, announcing the finds last week. Among the discoveries are seventeen ritual monuments, including the remains of a massive “house of the dead,” hundreds of burial mounds, and evidence of a possible processional route around Stonehenge itself. (Read more from National Geographic.) How Okwui Enwezor Changed the Art World Since his 1996 breakthrough as a curator of In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940 to Present, an exhibition of thirty African photographers at the Guggenheim Museum, Okwui Enwezor has alternated between ambitious international exhibitions that seek to define their moment—biennials in Johannesburg, Gwangju, and beyond, along with the Paris Triennale in 2012—and historically driven, encyclopedic museum shows centered on topics such as African liberation movements in the twentieth century, the arc of apartheid, and the use of archive material in contemporary art. (Read more from the Wall Street Journal.) Apply Now for Sustaining Digital Resources: A Course for Digital Project Leaders Ithaka S+R will again offer its highly successful course, “Sustaining Digital Resources: A Course for Digital Project Leaders,” in 2015. If you are responsible for the future vitality and impact of a digital initiative, Ithaka S+R encourages you to apply. The application deadline is October 15, 2014. (Read more from Ithaka S+R.) For the 2015 Annual Conference in New York, the Student and Emerging Professionals Committee seeks established professionals to volunteer as practice interviewers for the Mock Interview Sessions. Participating as an interviewer is an excellent way to serve the field and to assist with the professional development of the next generation of artists and scholars. In these sessions, interviewers pose as a prospective employer, speaking with individuals in a scenario similar to the Interview Hall at the conference. Each session is composed of approximately 10–15 minutes of interview questions and a quick review of the application packet, followed by 5–10 minutes of candid feedback. Whenever possible, the committee matches interviewers and interviewees based on medium or discipline. Interested candidates must be current CAA members and prepared to give six successive twenty-minute interviews with feedback in a two-hour period on one or both of these days: Thursday, February 12, 11:00 AM–1:00 PM and 3:00–5:00 PM; and Friday, February 13, 9:00–11:00 AM and 1:00–3:00 PM. Conference registration, while encouraged, is not required to be a mock interviewer. Desired for the sessions are art historians, art educators, designers, museum-studies professionals, critics, curators, and studio artists with tenure and/or experience on a search committee. You may volunteer for one, two, three, or all four Mock Interview Sessions. Please send your name, affiliation, position, contact information, and the days and times that you are available to Megan Koza Young, chair of the Student and Emerging Professionals Committee. Deadline: January 31, 2015. The Mock Interview Sessions are not intended as a screening process by institutions seeking new hires. Image: A Mock Interview at the 2012 Annual Conference (photograph by Bradley Marks) Students and emerging professionals have the opportunity to sign up for a twenty-minute practice interview at the 2015 Annual Conference in New York. Organized by the Student and Emerging Professionals Committee, Mock Interview Sessions give participants the chance to practice their interview skills one on one with a seasoned professional, improve their effectiveness during interviews, and hone their elevator speech. Interviewers also provide candid feedback on application packets. Mock Interview Sessions are offered free of charge; you must be a CAA member to participate. Sessions are filled by appointment only and scheduled for Thursday, February 12, 11:00 AM–1:00 PM and 3:00–5:00 PM; and Friday, February 13, 9:00–11:00 AM and 1:00–3:00 PM. Conference registration, while encouraged, is not necessary to participate. To apply, download, complete, and send the 2015 Mock Interview Sessions Enrollment Form to Megan Koza Young, chair of the Student and Emerging Professionals Committee, by email to email@example.com or by mail to: 706 Webster Street, New Orleans, LA 70118. You may enroll in one twenty-minute session. Deadline: February 5, 2015. You will be notified of your appointment day and time by email. Please bring your application packet, including cover letter, CV, and other materials related to jobs in your field. The Student and Emerging Professionals Committee will make every effort to accommodate all applicants; however, space is limited. Onsite enrollment will be limited and first-come, first-served. Sign up in the Student and Emerging Professionals Lounge starting on Wednesday, February 11, at 4:00 PM. posted by CAA — September 10, 2014 Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts selects the best in feminist art and scholarship. The following exhibitions and events should not be missed. Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring. Thinking with the Body: A Retrospective in Motion Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg 32, 5020 Salzburg, Austria July 18–November 9, 2014 Museum der Moderne Salzburg presents the first comprehensive retrospective of the significant work of the “movement artist” Simone Forti (b. 1935, Florence). The program for Thinking with the Body: A Retrospective in Motion includes numerous performances, many of them presented in live enactments, as well as an exhibition of the artist’s sculpture, drawing, work with holograms and sound, and video that demonstrates her strikingly broad creative practice. A choreographer, dancer, artist, and writer, Forti figured prominently in postmodern dance and Minimal art. She has been engaged with kinesthetic awareness and composition, dedicating herself to experimentation and improvisation. Her artistic projects include collaborations with other artists, such as the musicians Charlemagne Palestine and Peter Van Riper. In the early 1960s, together with dancers including Steve Paxton and Yvonne Rainer, Forti introduced movements from everyday life, revolutionizing the idea of dance and performance art. When living near the zoo in Rome in the late 1960s, she began to develop performance pieces based on the movements of animals. Forti also explored working with minimalist objects made of simple materials. In her most recent works, the News Animations, she includes spoken words in her dance, evidencing her ongoing interest in incorporating current events into movement. Through these works, the artist states that physicality and the language relationship to thought are pretty basic to us. During the duration of the exhibition, students at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance will enact Forti’s famous Dance Constructions (1960–61) and other performance pieces in the galleries and in public spaces. Annette Messager: Motion/Emotion Museum of Contemporary Art Australia 140 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia July 24–October 26, 2014 The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia celebrates the work of the internationally renowned French artist Annette Messager with the artist’s first retrospective in Australia. Messager’s diverse practice encompass drawing, artist’s books, photography, sculpture, and installation and is characterized by her modest choice of materials (clothing, stuffed toys, yarn, etc.), images culled from pop culture, a multifaceted toying with language, and the underpinning centrality of the body. As put by the curator of the show, Rachel Kent, “since her debut in the Paris art scene in 1971–72, Messager has created an eccentric menagerie of creatures” whose often hybrid nature captures the “complexity of life as well as the mythologies, superstitions, and vanities that underpin it—the shadowy ‘other’ within us all. From her earliest works exploring concepts of the feminine, to works of the 1980s that explore hybrid beings or ‘chimeras,’ to later works featuring dismembered soft toys, unraveled woolen sweaters, and hand-stitched limbs and organs, the body remains central, while identity is destabilized.” Featuring works from the early 1970s to the present, including her large kinetic installations, Annette Messager: Motion/Emotion reflects a crucial duality—motion and emotion—that underpins the artist’s practice and infatuation with what she describes as the fantastic in everyday life, rather than in the imagination. While motion is central to Messager’s recent works—whether employing mechanical elements, complex inflating mechanisms, household objects, or the movement of the spectator—it is by “probing the body from outside and within” that Messager’s work reveals “the keen interest in humanity and fragile, emotional core” that this exhibition seeks to highlight. Ewa Partum: Installations and Provocations Limerick City Gallery of Art Carnegie Building, Pery Square, Limerick, Ireland July 17–September 14, 2014 Limerick City Gallery of Art presents the first exhibition of Ewa Partum’s work in Ireland, examining notions of gestural and symbolic “public place.” Defining the essence of her work through the tautology of “the act of thought” and the “act of art,” Partum (b. 1945, Grodzisk Mazowiecki) belongs to the first generation of the Polish conceptual avant-garde and is a pioneer of feminist art. Embedded in the mail-art tradition, concrete poetry, and performance, and with a language-oriented conceptual spine, her work, since the mid 1960s, has variously and provocatively touched upon such issues as the notion of public space, the situation of women, female subjectivity, and the Polish political context. She was the first woman artist to encroach upon public space in the nude in Poland, publicly making a value statement about being a female artist, basing her art and its vocabulary on her specific experience as a woman, and connecting her artistic gestures with political statements and a visible presence in the public. Her work includes actions, objects, photography, films that she herself calls “tautological cinema,” visual poetry performances, and mail art. For a long time the reception of Partum’s work was hampered by East–West division, and following the imposition of martial law in Poland she left her country to live in Berlin (since 1983). Her 2006 retrospective in Gdansk and her inclusion in Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007–8) have marked her recent international acknowledgment as one of the leading figures of feminist and conceptual avant-garde in Poland and beyond. Three Person Show: Tamar Ettun, Monika Sziladi, Aimee Burg 48 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002 September 17–October 18, 2014 Curated by Naomi Lev, this exhibition explores the distinct role of object-human relationship as manifested in the work of three New York–based artists: Tamar Ettun, Monika Sziladi, and Aimee Burg, all 2010 graduates of the Yale MFA program but of diverse cultural origins and practices. Incorporating repetitive and meditative tasks using metaphoric objects from everyday life, Burg’s installation revolves around the notion of rituals and the suspension of time. Her recycling of mundane objects of everyday rituals renders them archeological artifacts that preserve ancient ceremonial events. The installation’s dynamic presence plays with the relevance of “time” by bringing the past into a science fiction–like future. In her recent series of works, Ettun explores the concept of “neuron mirroring.” Originally defined as “mirror neuron,” the term refers to a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Her sculptures, video, and onsite installation are a reflection of a longer process, which traces the correspondence between objects and bodies, as well as sculptures and movement. As she often states, in her works the body becomes sculptural and the objects become performative. Through a photographic process Sziladi creates unique digital collages that are constructed from scenes she shoots at events, conventions, and meet-ups of various subcultures that communicate through social networks. In her most recent series, Prisoners of Our Own Device, she enhances moments of the complex physical and psychological exchange we develop with objects, garments, architecture, devices, or other people with which we surround ourselves. Reflections on the Aftermath: Lydda Airport Bristol Museum and Art Gallery Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RL, United Kingdom July 26, 2014–January 4, 2015 The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, in partnership with Arnolfini, presents Lydda Airport by the Palestinian artist Emily Jacir (b. Bethlehem, 1970), as part of the program “Reflections on the Aftermath: Global to Local.” Through a subtle and delicate narrative set in an airport built in Palestine in 1936 by the British Mandate, Jacir considers politics, place, and history. While this haunting film was shown previously in New York (2009) and at the Sharjah Biennial (2010), its screening in the United Kingdom in the context of a program that reflects on the impact of the First World War around the globe becomes particularly meaningful. Lydda Airport, an important stop along the empire route for the British government, is shown under construction and deserted except for the figure of Jacir and the main character, Hannibal, one of the largest passenger planes in the world at the time, that disappeared in 1940 over the Gulf of Oman on its way to Sharjah. The film also invokes the story of Amelia Earhart, the pioneering pilot who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her own in 1932 and disappeared over the Pacific in her journey around the world in 1937. Jacir—an artist known for her historical narratives through photography, film, installation, social intervention, writing, and sound—wrote, directed, performed, and created the soundtrack for this film. The animation was created using archive footage from the Library of Congress as well as original aerial photographs taken by Geoffrey Grierson. The exhibition also includes the artist’s re-creation of the original proposed model of the airport, a solid representation that contrasts with the fragile narrative of a film that exacerbates the experience of absence and disappearance. Geta Brătescu / MATRIX 254 Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive University of California, Woo Hon Fai Hall, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 July 25–September 28, 2014 Organized by Apsara DiQuinzio, MATRIX 254 features the first solo exhibition in an American museum of the Romanian artist Geta Brătescu (b. 1926, Ploesti). Brătescu is a central figure in postwar Romanian art. With a practice that spans a wide range of media, such as illustration, graphic design, drawing, video, textiles, performance, installation, photography, and printmaking, the artist defines herself as a natural drawer. In her own words: “For me, the line is the essence. Drawing is the foundation of my language. I draw with a pencil, I draw with scissors … with anything.” Having maintained a rigorous and mostly secluded studio practice that continues into the present, Brătescu exhibited regularly in Romania throughout her career. She has chosen to remain in Romania during the Communist times, and she feels it was the right choice. However, due primarily to Communist totalitarian regime (1967–89) and the subsequent political isolation of the country, Brătescu’s work was little known to international audiences until fairly recently. In this context, MATRIX 254 presents a focused selection of the artists’ key works made between 1974 and 2000, in which the space of Brătescu’s studio assumes an essential position within the artist’s oeuvre. In her early video The Studio (1978), we can see the artist creating inside this intimate room surrounded by her artworks, an environment that captures the playful, experimental, and feminine (as she defines it) approach that characterizes her practice, making also evident her frequent use of role playing and self-portraiture.

French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to French counter-terrorism forces in northern Mali, in May. EPA/Christophe Petit Tesson Some African countries present a facade of democracy. The absence of substantive democracy is contributing to instability on the continent. By engaging a broad base of people on a popular level, film has a much more immediate and visceral impact than formal lustration proceedings. Before the Rain (1994) Cinema can be instrumental in opening up dialogue on collective culpability for the past. Manchevski’s Before the Rain and Angelopoulos’ Ulysses’ Gaze are perfect examples of this. The U.N. General Assembly Hall. UN Photo/Manuel Elias Will the next U.S. president continue to champion democracy around the world? Not meeting this challenge could have dangerous consequences, says former U.S. diplomat. Podcasts are emerging as an arguably easy-to-access, affordable mode of creating new spaces for discussion and debate. The podcast has emerged as a promising medium for facilitating ongoing debate about issues that need more time than mainstream, profit-oriented media or the changing tides of hashtags might allow. The presence of civil society representatives, such as State Secretary Praktikno (left), a former university rector, in government shows increased plurality in Indonesia’s bureaucracy. Reuters/Antara News Agency Indonesian activists see that opportunities for them to enter the state arena and influence the policy process are opening up with Joko Widodo's presidency. The political crisis surrounding the 2012 ousting of Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed led to a return to authoritarian rule. Democracy did not fail in the Maldives because it clashed with Islam. Instead, a privileged and powerful elite helped topple the elected government, and nations that advocate democratic ideals did little to stop them. Yu Keping: ‘The movement towards democracy everywhere is a political trend that cannot be reversed. China is no exception.’ Opponents of democracy often raise the spectre of social disorder. Over the long term, it is only democracy and the rule of law that will provide for the long-lasting peaceful rule of the nation. A typical community protest over the delivery of basic services in South Africa. A study shows protesters often resort to violence to attract attention. The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 is often hailed as peaceful and smooth. But, there are lingering problems. Dissent over unmet expectations has resulted in an increase in protests. Roch Marc Kabore addresses supporters after winning Burkina Faso’s presidential elections. Voting for national leaders has become the global norm in a remarkably short time – in Africa in 1988, only 25% of countries had multiparty elections, but 94% do today. Yet all is not well. Whatever the terms agreed by the 12 trade ministers who signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the text is unlikely to include the word ‘democracy’. Why has the United States, the great engine of democratisation, advanced a pact that is silent on a defining theme of its foreign policy? Taking back the city. Thousands of Hong Kong residents have taken to the streets to call for democracy and greater autonomy from mainland China. A 170,000-strong rally on July 1 followed hot on the heels of an informal referendum… Democracy in action. In the run up to the World Cup, the scene depicted in Brazil by the international press was split between two simple narratives. On one hand: disaster, with protests against the tournament gaining much…

Writer:August Wilson, Director: Denzel Washington, Runtime: 2h19m Full Cast & Crew “How come you ain’t ever like me?”. What a thing to ask your father, I said to myself. Later, I caught wind of James Earl Jones doing the same scene. As he was in the play version many years ago. Then another video appeared with Leading Male, Denzel Washington, doing his version of the same play. What made it more interesting, was the audience was laughing. I couldn’t help but feel extremely perplexed by how such a scene could come off as comedic. So, I went and what I got was a film so distant to any film I’ve seen like it. Through the guise of spectacular acting, this motion picture felt more like a play than 24 frames rushing past your eyes. What good editors will tell you, and I’m even sure this a quote from the Godfather’s editor, a cut should feel like a person blinking, more so than a cut for cuts sake. (Post Edit, its from Walter Murch). This was achieved here. The dialogue is so quick and cohesive that you don’t get to notice when the edits actually happen. That’s beautiful work in my eyes. Denzel, Davis and co. Give such outstanding performances Watching the leads had me in such awe. The first half of the film belongs to Denzel. While the second is a humble share, if not impeccably dominated, by Viola. She steals scenes and she is the best in the business at doing so. I doubt she means to. But her hard work and talent that she’s has had over the years is simply being manifested into her performances. It’s hot actually.. My pick for best supporting actress at this year’s Oscars is without doubt,Stephen Henderson! (Jim Bono Character) He didn’t miss a beat and he had all the right emotion to match with the provided story. His first few scenes with Denzel, made Denzel better by providing someone grounded yet as crazy as Denzel’s character is. The title is meant as an allegory that both works and doesn’t. Less the latter than the former. There’s so much happening with the people in the story, that the fence is benign. His Wife asks him to build it, however, it’s occurs so quickly, I nearly missed it. Each time it’s mentioned later, I barely cared as there was so much more going on(namely with his brother which had some of Denzel’s best acting for me, it added nothing to the story since there’s so much more happening that he can’t even build the fence. The fence is the least interesting part of the story. Then you get to The confession and Viola Davis’ third, well-written act & tremendous performance. By that part, you have lost all interest in the fence. Maybe in the play it holds more of a meaningful presence. It then can be argued the cinematography or rather, the medium as a whole caused the fence to fall so far into the background. But that’s neither here nor there. Needless to say, the story being central to the fence is very misleading (even if it is apparent). Allegories shouldn’t be verbal in cinema, they should either be purely visible (through set pieces to cinematography) or simply acted out in body language/ actual deeds. Denzel and co dropped the ball on that in my eyes. Denzel deserves a nod for direction I feel as well. His choices with bringing the production to life were spectacular. Bottomline: If you want to see a film that has tremendous acting and editing, see this one. It deserves all the nominations for those sort of categories. But it certainly doesn’t deserve a win for best picture(the nomination is fair). It should be nominated for set design or production coordination editing and of course any and all for acting. - Overall rating of the movie: 7 out of 10, - Cinematography: 8 out of 10, - Editing: 8.7 out of 10, - Audio: 7 out of 10, - Acting: 10 out of 10, Theatres or wait for the blu-ray? Not a bad pick up if you wish to buy it, but this is more a Netflix stream than anything.

- Elegant design - Polished smartphone app - Solid, cohesive bass - Broad soundstage and good sense of scale - Vague status lights - Setup difficulties - Treble lacks bite and detail - Review Price: £599.95 - Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with NFC - SoundTouch multiroom functionality - Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, internet radio - PhaseGuide and QuietPort technology - Dolby Digital/DTS decoding What is the Bose SoundTouch 300? The Bose SoundTouch 300 is a premium soundbar equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and multiroom functionality. It streams music from Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music and NAS drives via the SoundTouch app, while a raft of nifty audio tech delivers powerful home cinema sound on movie night. The best part is that it does all this from a slim, clutter-busting bar that slips into your room with minimal disruption. Never one to blow its own trumpet, Bose reckons the SoundTouch 300 offers “the best performance, spaciousness and bass of any one-piece soundbar of its size”. A bold claim, indeed, given the quality of recent one-piece soundbars from Q Acoustics, DALI and Yamaha – let’s find out if the Bose lives up to its promise… Related: Best Soundbars Bose SoundTouch 300 – Design and Connections One thing’s for sure – the Bose is a beautifully made soundbar that comfortably lives up to its price tag. The wraparound aluminium grille and tempered glass top panel lend a sense of luxury and elegance, as well as making it reassuringly weighty. The sleek black finish and slim dimensions also boost its living room appeal. It measures 57mm high by 978mm wide, which suits TVs from 40in upwards, and should also stay well below most TV remote sensors. You can mount it on the wall if you prefer, but you’ll need to fork out for the £35 WB-300 wall bracket. The lack of an LED display creates a clean, minimal fascia, but doesn’t help when you’re trying to work out which input is selected or for tweaking the audio settings. All you get is a row of tiny LEDs that indicates the Wi-Fi status and selected inputs – Bluetooth, SoundTouch, TV; they’re difficult to see from the sofa. One of the lights blinks when you adjust the volume and stops when it hits maximum. When adjusting the bass, the position of the light in the row tells you the current level. It all works fine, but a numerical display would make life much easier. Similarly, the complete absence of buttons means there’s no up-close operation – all the controls are reserved for the supplied universal remote and companion smartphone app (both of which we’ll come to later). On the rear is a useful range of sockets, although Bose doesn’t exactly push the boat out for the money. There’s an HDMI input and ARC-compatible output, which can pass through 4K/60p, HDR and support HDCP 2.2 – a crucial feature for owners of UHD Blu-ray decks and Sky Q. You’ll also find an optical input, Ethernet port, plus 3.5mm ports for the auto-calibration headset and the optional subwoofer. A word of warning, though: limited space in the socketry recess makes it tricky to connect the cables. I had to pull out the HDMI lead to access the optical input, which is awkwardly placed at the back. Bose’s optional sub is the Acoustimass 300, a wireless affair with a matching premium design that doubles the price of the system (£1,200). You can also add a pair of Virtually Invisible 300 wireless surround speakers for £250, or buy all three for an eye-watering £1,450. Bose sent us the soundbar on its own. Bose SoundTouch 300 – Features The SoundTouch 300 comes equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and Dolby Digital/DTS decoding. The most compelling feature is SoundTouch, Bose’s multiroom system. Connect the soundbar to your network, download the SoundTouch app onto your smartphone, and you can stream music from a range of services or your own network servers. The app puts Spotify at your disposal, although you’ll need a premium account to use it. Unusually, Spotify is integrated into the SoundTouch app itself, which works a treat and saves the hassle of jumping between apps. In fact, the app’s homepage is based around Spotify content. You can also stream music from Deezer, Amazon Music or internet radio, and send it to multiple SoundTouch speakers on the same network. Tracks, albums and radio stations can be stored in six presets, providing quick access to your favourite content. This is more useful than it sounds, particularly if you have a huge music library and don’t want to hunt for the same songs every time. Bose is sketchy on power output, but the SoundTouch 300 uses “custom drivers” with proprietary audio tech to enhance audio performance. The PhaseGuide array sends audio signals to left and right of the room to create a wide, spacious soundstage, harnessing reflections from the side walls. Meanwhile, QuietPort ensures deep, clean bass and keeps distortion at bay as you increase the volume. There’s a dedicated bass volume and a Dialogue mode that adjusts the tonal balance to improve the clarity of vocals. Bose SoundTouch 300 – Setup and Operation Soundbars are usually a cinch to install, but I had a few problems with the SoundTouch 300. The most frustrating problem was that ARC wouldn’t work with my Samsung TV – in the end, I gave up and connected the set to the optical input. And at first I couldn’t hear any Dolby Digital or DTS sound from my Blu-ray deck through the HDMI input; turns out you have to activate a “Direct Audio” setting deep in the app’s setup menu, which is unusual. The soundbar connects to your Wi-Fi network through the SoundTouch phone app, which again proved tricky. It took a good few attempts for the software to find our sample, but it got there in the end. Bose makes things easy in other areas, though, particularly audio calibration. The ADAPTIQ system adjusts the soundbar’s audio output to suit the acoustics of your room, but takes a different approach to most other systems. Rather than placing a microphone and leaving the room, you have to wear a headset – connected via cable to the back of the soundbar – and sit in five different positions while it plays the test tones. A woman’s voice guides you through the process, and it’s fairly quick and easy. Bose’s universal remote provides a foolproof way of controlling your entire AV system. It can be programmed to control TVs, PVRs and Blu-ray decks – not just Bose-branded kit – and is reflected by the high button count (not all of which are used). Nevertheless, it doesn’t feel cluttered or confusing thanks to its thoughtful layout and labelling. Build quality is superb, too: it feels weighty in the hand and the rubber keys are satisfying to press. The app is one of the most polished and intuitive I’ve used. Not only is Spotify seamlessly integrated, but the clean, classy graphics allow you to navigate around NAS drives and find radio stations with consummate ease. Various tabs and sidebar menus slide in and out, allowing you to select sources, speakers and view what’s playing. Multiroom operation is equally simple – just tap the bottom of the screen and hit “Play All” to send music to the entire system. To add a track to the Preset list, simply hold your finger on it then drag it to a free spot when the list appears. Little touches such as this make the app a joy to use. The only flaw I found – and it’s a small one – is that you can’t jump to a particular point in a song. Bose SoundTouch 300 – Performance In many respects, the SoundTouch 300 is a terrific performer, offering a sound that will make your pathetic TV hang its screen in shame. Fire up Chappie on Blu-ray (fed into the soundbar via HDMI) and the Bose lends plenty of clout to the boisterous action. Despite the lack of a subwoofer, the SoundTouch 300 generates impressive bass during shoot-outs on the streets of Joburg. Meaty explosions and gunshots fill the room, while van engines have ample body and weight. It doesn’t delve down to the lowest frequencies in the way of a dedicated sub, but there’s enough here to satisfy. It all adds up to an entertaining sound with decent scale. However, what’s most impressive is how composed and cohesive everything sounds. There’s no booming as the action gets frantic; just a tight, solid wall of sound. You can push the volume loud with confidence, but if you do then get ready for a visit from the neighbours. The Bose also creates an expansive soundstage that puts you right in the middle of Chappie’s street battles. It isn’t a patch on the Yamaha YSP-1600’s sound beam tech, but it throws effects beyond the edges of the TV screen and creates the impression of width and space. Dialogue stays locked to the centre, though, with enough mid-range detail to differentiate between the shouty South African accents. So what’s the rub? Why shouldn’t you buy the Bose instead of the Q Acoustics M3 or DALI Kubik One? Sadly, the Bose’s high-frequency reproduction simply doesn’t measure up to the best soundbars in its class. Its top-end seems strangely muted, lacking the crispness and detail needed to get you out of your seat. Gunshots don’t snap like they do through the M3, and when Chappie smashes up a Mercedes during the carjacking scene, breaking glass and metal lacks the precision of the DALI or Cabasse Stream BAR. As a result, its sound boasts plenty of depth but a dearth of excitement and insight. The same can be said for music playback – Gregory Porter’s rich, velvety voice on “Take Me To The Alley” is backed by a solid fusion of piano and double bass, but the percussion and hi-hats should be more open. That’s not to say the Bose is a poor performer – it’s a rather enjoyable dinner party listen – but judged against sophisticated rivals such as the DALI Kubik One and Q Acoustics M3, there’s simply no contest. Should I buy the Bose SoundTouch 300? The SoundTouch 300 has plenty going for it. Features such as 4K-ready HDMIs, effortless multiroom streaming and ADAPTIQ auto-calibration make up a strong “pros” column. Add to this an elegant, streamlined design that easily lives up to the price tag. And in terms of performance, the Bose doesn’t struggle to fill a room, even without the Acoustimass sub in tow, bringing a decent sense of scale to proceedings. But a lack of top-end subtlety and crispness let the side down, making it a much less satisfying listen than the DALI Kubik One or the Q Acoustics M3. Their lack of network streaming levels things up a little, but on sound quality alone, the Bose can’t compete – and issues with ARC don’t help its cause. Bose’s beautifully made soundbar delivers a loud, bass-heavy sound – but it lacks the bite and sparkle of its illustrious rivals. Score in detail Sound Quality 7 |Dolby Pro Logic II||No| |DTS Master Audio HD||No| |S/PDIF Optical In||1| |Power (Watt)||Not givenW| Unlike other sites, we thoroughly test every product we review. We use industry standard tests in order to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever accept money to review a product. Tell us what you think - send your emails to the Editor.

The reason why I started keeping this list is because I no longer logged in to IMDB, where I had kept a list of most of the films I had seen, and I also was seeing films more frequently in New York and didn't want to forget what I had spent hundreds of dollars on. I guess I also hoped to eventually study the films (and by study, I mean, going to those SparkNotes sites, reading reviews by well-known critics and then trying to form my own opinion of the film) so that I am simply not consuming all this entertainment and not giving myself any reasoning for it. Maybe I just don't have much else going on in my life right now, but I think there is something wrong about that. Why read, listen or watch if it's not going to have any affect on you? Not going to stay with you for a few hours or evenings and make you think and make you reflect and change? "It's just a movie." Yes, but it doesn't have to be. I don't know, I feel like a twat. Here is the damn list. # 2009: An Education, Hump Day, Broken Embraces, Nine, The Road, Sherlock Holmes, La Danse, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, I Could Never Be Your Woman, Avatar, New Moon, The Young Victoria, A Single Man, 2012, Minority Report, Phoebe in Wonderland, The Boat That Rocked, Untitled, I Love You Man, V for Vendetta, Risky Business, Mad Men Season One, Orphan, House of the Devil, Phantom of the Opera, Labyrinth, The Boondock Saints, Trick Or Treat, Adventureland, Slither, Honeymoon in Vegas, SLC Punk, Where The Wild Things Are, Paranormal Activity, Zombieland, The Damned United, The Invention of Lying, Toy Story 1 and 2, Pandorum, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Happenstance, 2 Days in Paris, Whip It, The September Issue, The Cove, No Impact Man, Inglorious Basterds, Julie and Julia, Harry Potter 6, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, District 9, Ponyo, World's Greatest Dad Some of the films I had seen before, some I had seen in the theatre, some on iTunes, some on Netflix, some on DVD (wow, took me a second to remember films came on DVDs!) I also like keeping the list because sometimes you can remember the memory surrounding the film; the night out or in, the people there, the funny things that happened. I saw World's Greatest Dad with Luke and was surprised at how it exceeded my expectations and how well Robin Williams acted in this film. I saw District 9 at Union Square and we all had to sit separately. Brooke and I were sitting in those individual seats that they place so far a part from one another. The crowd laughing and yelling along with the film made the experience so much more worthwhile. I saw Harry Potter 6 with Adam and laughed harder than anyone else in the theatre at how terribly awkward everything was. I was so embarrassed. Julie and Julia was a late night session on 42nd Street with Chicken McNuggets and Josh and Adam. No Impact Man was at the Angelica. The film skipped half-way through, but we also got to meet the author and No Impact Man himself after the film. I bought his book and spoke to him for a moment, and he told me a lot of the fans of his blog are from Australia. I walked away with an unnecessary signature. The Cove made me cry and we were all fairly stunned as we walked home. We didn't really no what to do. I saw The September Issue with Molly and Luke at the Sunshine, with all these fashionable people surrounding us. We all really liked the film and found Grace Coddington to be utterly adorable. Anvil! The Story of Anvil! was amazing because I had no idea that the band would be there! I was so excited because the film was so uplifting and so inspirational and then there they were. I got a photo afterwards. I was so excited. The Damned United was Luke's suggestion and I loved it. That would seal the deal for my admiration for Michael Sheen. He is now one of my favourite actors. He is such a chameleon. I remember Zombieland not being as amazing as everyone said it was, and Paranormal Activity being a welcomed let-down with Sam, and almost falling asleep while watching Where The Wild Things Are at a midnight session at Kips Bay with Luke, his brother Max, Molly and Ryan and their friend, who I think hated it. Adventureland was seen with my freaking taxi driver, which was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. House of the Devil was seen after running through the Halloween parade with Brooke while it poured down rain. We were freezing. I think we went home and watched Orphan straight after with Luke and Josh and I have never been so angry while watching a film. I have never also felt more maternal instincts than I have while watching that film. Mad Men took up my life for a bit, with Luke by my side on my terrible purple couch. I still want to do the Mad Men drinking game. A swig for every drink, a shot would be too much, we would probably all be dead. I Love You Man was a great bromance though I still am not a fan of the female characters in that movie. Untitled was awesome, another great film showing at the Angelika. One of those films that you can take something from and try to apply it to what you do. In this case, finding the love in the process of creating, not in the result or from the critiques or fame one may receive afterwards. The US version of The Boat That Rocked, Pirate Radio, was disappointing. Some funny sequences cut out to save time. I don't like it when they don't trust their audiences. Even if they have tested the bullocks out of them. Sometimes they should just say, fuck it, and take a chance. The rest of the year was spent trying to see as many of the "Oscar" contenders as possible and becoming Mayor of Quad Cinemas. A title that has been sadly lost after I created it. I will stew on this forever. I saw The Road and Nine on New Years Eve. I thought one way of saying, fuck you, to 2009 would be by watching an apocalyptic thriller that was meant to be utterly depressing. I found it sad but also uplifting. Then, after a quick break of meat pies from Tuckshop on St. Marks, I brought in the New Year with a movie musical. Nothing like a little "cinema Italiano" to make you perky. I don't know why I spent time giving these pissy little reviews of the experience or the film because that sort of defeats my point. I guess I was excited by the flood of memories that came to me as I went through the list. This is why it's my favourite list to keep. Yours in Pointlessness,

There are three iron laws of information age creativity, freedom and business, woven deep into the fabric of the Internet’s design, the functioning of markets, and the global system of regulation and trade agreements. You can’t attain any kind of sustained commercial, creative success without understanding these laws — but more importantly, the future of freedom itself depends on getting them right. Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist, blogger and co-editor of Boing Boing. He has written a ton of great books. If you haven’t read them, I recommend starting with Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and working your way through to his collaboration with Charles Stross, Rapture of the Nerds. Don’t miss out on his fantastic Young Adult novels For The Win, Pirate Cinema, Little Brother and its sequel Homeland. They’re all great. Former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founder of the Open Rights Group, Cory is a tireless fighter for freedom, campaigning against censorship, DRM, government surveillance and other plagues of our time. Cory delivered the closing keynote at the very first dConstruct and it’s truly fitting that he’s back ten years later when the theme of this year’s dConstruct is “Living With The Network.”

It was 1953 when the future chart-topping stars both joined Parsons Junior High School, in Queens, New York. After they were both given roles in the school play, they soon became good friends. Garfunkel recalled how the school had a reputation for being “where the tough kids were” and said he and Simon each recognised the other’s “uniqueness” straight away. Shy Garfunkel admitted he felt isolated from the other pupils and Simon became his only friend. Simon later said he had seen Garfunkel singing in a school talent show before they met and reportedly thought this was a “good way to attract girls!” Both of them loved music and listened to the radio a lot, enjoying the emerging rock and roll sounds at the time. Tom and Jerry As youths, they formed their first band, the Peptones – a five-piece doo-wop group. They would busk on street corners, where they perfected their harmonising. Simon and Garfunkel then formed a duo called Tom and Jerry, after the famous cat and mouse cartoon characters. They began their pop career by playing at school dances. They were so successful that they were offered a record deal at 15 and released their first single, Hey Schoolgirl, in 1957, on the independent Big Records label. It sold 100,000 copies, mainly to the teenage girl market, peaking at number 49 in the US Billboard top 100 chart. Likened to the Everly Brothers, the boys earned around $4,000 royalties from the song while they were still students at Forest Hills High School! The duo were also offered a spot on the famous TV show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, when rock ‘n’ roll superstar Jerry Lee Lewis was topping the bill. After leaving school in 1958, they attended different universities, so their dream of pursuing a music career was temporarily put on hold. Sound of Silence In 1963, their education completed, they reformed as a duo, initially called Kane and Garr, but later changing their name to Simon and Garfunkel. By this time, they had distanced themselves from their early pop sound and began playing the folk music that became their trademark. They began playing regularly at Gerde’s Folk City (a live music club in Greenwich) at Monday’s open mic night, in the hope a producer would spot them and give them another record deal. Their perseverance paid off, as they were spotted by Tom Wilson, producer of Columbia records, who signed them up. They went on to enjoy some major hits, the first being The Sound of Silence in 1964. Simon had written it when he was 21 while sitting alone at home, playing his guitar. The first line, “Hello darkness, my old friend,” related to the fact he usually played his guitar at night, in the dark. He described it as a song about “post-adolescent angst.” Their next massive hit was Mrs Robinson in 1968. The song had apparently been called Mrs Roosevelt in the beginning and the lyrics suggested it was written about Eleanor Roosevelt, the former first lady of the US and wife of President Franklin Roosevelt. However, after the song had been included in the soundtrack for the film, The Graduate, Simon and Garfunkel changed the name to Mrs Robinson – the name of the leading female character in the movie. Mrs Robinson was their second number one hit after The Sound of Silence. It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and in 2004, it was voted number six in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years 100 Songs list of the top songs in American cinema. Simon and Garfunkel continued to sing as a duo until 2010, releasing five studio albums, 15 compilation albums, four live albums and 26 singles. Perhaps their most famous album was Bridge over Troubled Water, released in 1977, which was voted number 51 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums in history. It sold in excess of 25 million copies and was certified eight-times platinum. A crowd of half a million people flocked to their free concert in Central Park, New York, in 1981. They also won 10 Grammy Awards and were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. A meeting can forge monumental relationships that last a lifetime! Contact &Meetings to rent purpose-built meeting facilities in London that will accommodate two to 100 people. Offering flexible seating layouts, LCD TV screens, wifi and AV equipment, when you need the best meeting venue, you can surely rely on us! Give us a call on 0800 073 0499 and we’ll assist you through the complete booking process.

Le Gai Savoir – Godard teaches while we experience the Joy of Learning. (film review) And not of the fear of dying – I have always been reconciled to that – but of this expanse in front of me, on all sides, like a forgotten path. Terrified to find myself in front of a mirror without any images. To feel the shadow on an absent being detached from me. Engaged in a realm of dreams where I have no place, where I cannot follow him. And even if tomorrow I learn from him, followed… I wont believe any of it. And anyway, I would only have been attached to his steps for an instant. IN this manner I spent half of our life, in the streets, the metro, in this despair that if it sank, in the end, in my sleep, in my dreams, was only comparable to prison, a punished life, a sort of madness where I could even forget those that I had lost. I have never, in my life, awoken without wailing. A profound wail. Mute. Of all the justice of the night. Sometimes the feeling in me was so strong, that it remained with eyes open for a long time, and you would ask me, what’s wrong? And I couldn’t tell you. Believing it was the fog of bad dreams that was still obfuscating my gaze, and still struggling in the tangled memories of the shadows… This above is a quote from at beautiful section at the end of Le Gai Savoir when Patricia and Emile (Juliet Berto, Jean-Pierre Léaud) Speak about all they have learned in their failed attempt at making a revolutionary film. Just when I think I can’t love Goadard any more than I do, I watch a film like this and the passion takes me over again and in new ways. Le Gai Savoir, or The Joy of Learning in a rough translation, is Godard’s ultimate effort at “semioclasm” the name Roland Barthes gave to the necessary job of breaking down the signs of languages we take for granted in order to rebuild them on stronger foundations. This is the film that film scholars claim heralds a new era for Godard. Godard’s problem (a problem just as strong today) is the extraordinary capacity of bourgeois liberalism for co-opting and subsuming opposing ideas. If there is one thing the middle class love, it is to have their guilt appeased by art that points out their errors. Godard had to do something new. he had to go back to a kind of zero in order to build a new cinema. This is without any doubt, one of Godard’s finest films, but it is also one of his most difficult to grasp and understand. The basic plot line is this (taken from a wonderful essay by James Monaco to whom the copyright of this essay belongs – if you have the time, inclination and interest, leap over to this essay and enjoy it as much as I did.): Émile Rousseau (Jean-Pierre Leaud), the great-great-grandson of Jean-Jacques, and Patricia Lumumba (Juliet Berto), daughter of the Third World, stumble over each other one night in an unused television studio. They embark on a series of seven late night dialogues during which they try to develop a rigorous analysis of the relation between politics and film. They meet for seven evenings (that is the structure of the film). More often than not, one of them is late (that is its plot). Needless to say, in an hour and a half of film time Godard, Émile and Patricia cannot give us the kind of detailed, closely reasoned exposition that we (and they) would like to have. What we can expect, however, and what we do get is a filmic summary of the areas that should be investigated. The film is divided into three parts, and takes place over seven days. If the static is confused and confusing, that is because Godard wants to convey his sense of the then contemporary existential revolt as ideologically confusing, a mixture of bourgeois romanticism (Émile Rousseau) and third-world realism (Patricia Lumumba). In order to distance himself from the fact that he is making the film he is also breaking down, Godard will use images, sounds and movements in a pared down fashion so that we are forced to examine (as is he) each piece of critical influence as it appears on screen. He will also have his characters claim they are making a television program, when really we are watching (and Godard is making) a film. Oh, Godard also credits the 16th-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau as co-writer, so you might want to really watch out! One of the central questions of Le Gai Savoir is where do image and sound intersect and how does this inform what we know and what we think we know. For Godard, part of the key to the revolution – the revolution that disposes corrupt officials and changes “the system” – is to understand how we are affected by these various ideologies in the first place. How does Capitalism get its grip on us? Where are the hooks that are dragging us in a certain direction? Eventually, the argument even turns back on itself and Godard is forced to question the role cinema plays in this dialogue. This is where the manifesto element of the movie comes into play, the director issuing a challenge to the world directors, from Italy to Cuba, to create material that challenges and provokes. Always one to wear his influences on his sleeve, Godard throws the names of Bertold Brecht and Antonin Artaud in with Mao, Guevara, and Castro. Certainly the long, loud electronic pulses that periodically blared from my speakers fly the flag of Artaud’s theatre of pain. Godard himself speaks as a professorial narrator, instructing his actors through the robotic voice box that he used in other films like Alphaville and Oh, Woe Is Me! He also cuts up documentary audio of real speeches and protests to show us how information can be manipulated. The auteur even self-effacingly accepts that compromise can touch his own work, fabricating censorship with missing audio and excised scenes that never really existed. (Aspects of this are taken from DVD talk) For a film with no plot, three characters, one of whom is the director and a co-writer who was dead hundreds of years before the first shoot, the film runs at a terrific pace, so much so that there was too much for me to take in after just one sitting. But so many Goadard films are like this. In Le Gai Savoir he has put behind him the Bogart obsessed gangsters and followed the Sartarian command for the writer to lay down the pen and take up the sword. I know there will be more for me to gain in future watchings. I think this is one I will have to own. Oh – Senses of Cinema have a lovely article on this film as well here. Do not bother with any of the Rotten Tomatoes “reviews”.

2014 has come and gone, and while there were some definite highlights to the year of movies, overall I’d say it was a bit disappointing compared to years past. There were some movies that I really loved, but I wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic in 2014 as I usually am for the world of cinema. However, things are looking up for 2015, with a lot to be excited about, plus there are still a few movies I need to catch up on from 2014 that I either missed or haven’t gotten around to (Big Eyes, Selma, The Imitation Game, etc.). But now that 2015 is underway it’s time to take a look back at the highs and lows of 2014 at the movies. Instead of a traditional top 10 list of movies, I like to list out my favorite cinema-related things from the year. Some of them are movies, but others might be scenes, characters, moments, or even just announcements. So without further ado, here are my top 10 and bottom 3 of 2014 at the movies. My Top 10 of 2014 1) The Philosophers No other film impressed me this year as much as The Philosophers (also known as After the Dark in some territories). The movie tells the story of the last day of a philosophy class in Jakarta, during which the professor proposes a thought experiment in which there’s an apocalypse and a bunker which will only support 10 of the 20 students in the class. The students must use their assigned professions to determine who is worth saving and who can be sacrificed. However, this description just scratches the surface of a beautiful, thoughtful, fascinating film that deals with a wide variety of philosophical principles as well as the debate over philosophy itself. It’s exciting, thought-provoking, emotional, and often very funny, and writer/director John Huddles deserves an immense amount of credit for crafting such a unique experience. And in addition to being my favorite film of the year, my review/analysis of the film also was responsible for the coolest thing to happen to me since I started writing this blog, as it led to a personal interaction with one of the film’s creators which the most amazing and encouraging experience I’ve had since I started this blog. 2) Dancing Baby Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy There was so much to love about Guardians of the Galaxy, from the offbeat casting to the hilarious script to the thrilling heroics, but as much as I loved Rocket, Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax, no character got to me like Groot. The animate tree-creature, only capable of saying “I am Groot” in the voice of Vin Diesel was the quiet soul of the movie paired with Rocket’s heart. His equally gentle and ferocious demeanor, along with his combination of childlike wonder and maturity, gave the film a completely different feel than it would have had without him, reduced to simply a wise-cracking Star Wars ripoff. But the best Groot moment came during the credits, when, after having been seemingly destroyed, a twig was replanted in a pot and grew into a tiny version of the giant, quiet hero. But when Peter Quill loaded up some Jackson 5 in his tape deck, we got to watch baby Groot cut loose and dance in the most joyous, carefree moment in all of cinema this year. It ensured that everyone left the theater with a huge smile on their face, and it sent many of us scrambling to find a baby dancing Groot to sit on our desks at work. 3) The Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer I normally wouldn’t put a trailer this high on the list, but not every trailer is a Star Wars trailer. There hasn’t been a new Star Wars movie in 10 years, and the Star Wars saga is my favorite film and the single most important story in my history as a film fan. I’ve listened to people bash the prequels for the last 16 years, typically defending them, and all of those debates resurfaced in the buildup to the trailer. There was seemingly no way the trailer could live up to people’s expectations, and the haters were probably already prepping their snark, but once it started people were entranced and intrigued. The trailer was dark, unsettling, and intense, feeling 100% Star Wars yet also 100% new. And then there’s that final shot of the Millennium Falcon swooping through the desert that blew everyone’s mind and we were all instantly hooked. It was all anyone could talk about for a few weeks, from debating the physics of a cross-guard lightsaber to racist complaints about the existence of a black stormtrooper. But regardless of your opinion on the trailer, it was definitely one of the biggest moments of 2014, and at this point my anticipation level for the 2015 film is off the charts, higher than anything else. 4) Michael Keaton in Birdman Birdman is such a clever film, equally funny and tragic. It has a great cast, a clever hook in the illusion that it’s all filmed in one take, and meta commentary on the nature of fame and accomplishment. But all of that would be meaningless without Michael Keaton at the front. His performance as the former star of a superhero movie series who is trying to reinvent himself by directing and starring in a play in New York is simply electric. He brings a manic energy that keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch, yet it’s also an emotional, fragile performance. In a year seemingly filled with cinematic spectacle, Keaton managed to stand out from the noise, delivering a role that was more memorable than any big-budget visuals or epic battles. 5) Baymax in Big Hero 6 I have a soft spot for adorable robots (see also: Earth to Echo) so it’s no surprise that Baymax hit me hard. He was the heart of Big Hero 6, and also the source of most of its humor. His fist-bump noise has to be the winner for best vocal sound effect for the year. But what I might have loved most was his design. Adorable, sweet robots who don’t quite understand human behavior are fairly common, even if the healthcare aspect of Baymax makes him stand out, but having Baymax be inflatable was a stroke of genius, making the film much more visually interesting and offering many opportunities for comedy. It also goes a long way towards establishing his character as someone soft and comforting, making his transformation into a flying combat bot all the more impressive. Baymax felt like one of the most creative inventions of the film world in 2014, but his place in the story is really what earned him a spot on the list. Pride was one of those movies that came and went with little fanfare or notice. However, it was one of my favorites and I’m so glad that I sought it out. Based on a true story, it told about the unlikely alliance between striking coal miners and LGBTQ rights advocates in 1984. It was hilarious, tragic, and heartwarming, and it combined one of my most passionate causes with the industry in which I work. It was perfectly cast, charmingly British, and one of my top films of the year. 7) Captain America: The Winter Soldier flips the script on Agents of SHIELD I really didn’t know what to expect from The Winter Soldier. I’d enjoyed the first Captain America film, but the character was much more interesting in The Avengers. And while I ended up loving everything about the sequel, what had the biggest impact for me was the degree to which it shook up the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large and my favorite show, Agents of SHIELD, in particular. The revelation that HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD all the way to the top made the show infinitely more tense and dramatic, especially when we learned that one of the show’s heroes was actually a villain. That kind of synergy between properties has never really been attempted, and all of a sudden the MCU felt much more exciting and dangerous than it ever had before. 8) “On the Steps of the Palace” from Into the Woods There’s a lot to love about Into the Woods, at least there is if you’re a fan of musicals. But for me, the moment that stuck with me, and the song that I find myself listening to the most, is “On the Steps of the Palace”. The song occurs as Cinderella is fleeing the palace (and the prince) on the third night of the ball, only to find herself stuck in pitch that the prince spread on the stairs. Time freezes and she sings her internal debate about the decision with which she’s faced. She can either stay with the prince, she can pry herself loose and return to her old life, or she can leave behind a shoe and force the prince to decide for her. It’s the sort of song from a musical that I love the most, a song that gives us an inside look as what a character is thinking and feeling. Of course, it’s helped by the fact that it was written by Sondheim and is performed by Anna Kendrick, who not only is an excellent actress but who really understands musicals after years on the stage. It’s the song from Into the Woods that I most often find myself humming, earning it a spot on the list. 9) Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in Maleficent The right casting can turn a good movie into a great one, and nowhere was that more evident in 2014 than in Maleficent. The twist on the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty cast Angelina Jolie as the villainous Maleficent and Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, and those choices for the leads is what allowed the movie to work so well. Both Jolie and Fanning brought a high level of believability to the classic roles, with Jolie all bitter and resentful and Fanning wide-eyed and innocent. But the actresses are of such a caliber that they were able to play their roles both as we know them and against type. Fanning gave Aurora a strength that came from her goodness and openness, while Jolie showed us a wounded woman still capable of love. Without these two, Maleficent would have been a simple, if pretty to look at, reimagining of a fairy tale, but with them it became something more. 10) Frozen Fever 2014 was most definitely the year of Frozen. It started the year at the top of the box office, going on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of all time as well as the highest-grossing animated film ever. It followed that up with a pair of Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, along with bringing a lot of attention to Adele Dazeem, I mean Idina Menzel. From there it just grew into a sensation, and you couldn’t turn your head without seeing some reminder of it. “Let it Go” was heard everywhere, much to the annoyance of parents, and it felt like anyone with kids had to post a video of them singing it. Disney stores sold out of Anna and Elsa dolls, they completely changed their meet-and-greet procedure for the princesses in their parks, and they eventually showed up on Once Upon a Time. Of the hundreds of trick-or-treaters that came by our house on Halloween, there were far more Frozen characters than from any other franchise. And while I’m sure many people are sick to death of Frozen, I, for one, am thrilled at all of the attention it’s gotten. In addition to being a fantastic film worthy of recognition, its success proves that the traditional animated musical is still alive and well (something Tangled, despite its relative success, couldn’t quite do) and it was a huge win for Disney, a company I dearly love. With Moana due next year I have high hopes that Disney won’t let this tradition die. I hope the Frozen wave keeps riding high as long as it can, until the next great animated musical can take its place. Bonus: “Goodnight Danny Trejo” from Muppets Most Wanted My favorite joke in all of the movies I saw last year occurred in Muppets Most Wanted. Among the many cameos in the film was Danny Trejo as a prisoner in the Russian gulag run by Tina Fey’s character, Nadya. At one point in the film, Nadya locks up the prisoner’s cells for the night, including Kermit’s and Ray Liotta’s, and they all say goodnight to each other, Walton’s style. She says goodnight to prisoners with names like “Big Pappa,” “Prison King,” and “Skullcrusher,” and then she says “Goodnight, Danny Trejo.” So apparently instead of playing a character in the film, Danny Trejo is playing himself, a famous actor who also happens to be a murderer who was sent to a gulag. It’s a great gag that flies by so quickly you might not catch it, and the line was supposedly improvised by Tina Fey. It still gets the biggest laugh from me every time I watch the film. My Bottom 3 of 2014 1) Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams There are celebrity deaths every year, from both golden age actors who have reached the end of a long and productive life to younger rising stars just reaching their prime. But 2014 was marred by two deaths that were shocking and saddening both because of the vast talents of the men and the reality that despite being middle-aged they still had decades of fantastic work ahead of them. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death from drug overdose, after years of substance abuse followed by years of sobriety, was particularly surprising as his career seemed to be hitting its peak. Of course, substance abuse doesn’t follow a logical path, and hopefully his death helped to further discussion and awareness of the issue. He left behind a career full of charismatic performances, including my favorite in Twister, with a final role in the finale of The Hunger Games still to come. But nothing that happened in the film industry in 2014 was as shocking to me as Robin Williams’ death from suicide at age 63. Williams, one of the funniest people to have ever lived, starred in many of my favorite movies, including Aladdin, The Birdcage, Happy Feet, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Ferngully. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to watch Hook, my all-time favorite film, and whenever it comes on TV I have to change the channel. Part of the shock was the juxtaposition of someone so hilarious with the thought of his suicide, and if his death helped further the discussion on depression and suicide then it wasn’t completely in vain. Still, it felt like such a tragedy, and it still stings months later. In many ways, the deaths of these two men seem to mark 2014 in cinema more than any successes could have. 2) Into the Storm I do my best not to see any movies that I expect will be bad. I don’t get paid for this, so I have to spend my own money to go to the movies, so I generally just see things I think I will like. This probably artificially inflates my movie ratings, as I’m predisposed to like what I’m seeing. The exception to that in 2015 was Into the Storm, a movie I saw as part of my birthday movie marathon. I saw it because Twister is one of my favorite movies, I enjoy disaster films in general, and I thought the found footage aspect of the film could give it a unique feel. What I didn’t expect was just how horrible the script would be. It was tonally dissonant, going from scary, dramatic moments to insane, unbelievable comedy at the drop of a hat. The characters were one-dimensional, the effects were variously poor or silly, plot developments were telegraphed long before actually happening, and the found footage style was thrown out whenever they wanted a really impressive shot of the tornadoes that couldn’t believably have been filmed by a person with a camera. Beyond just being bad, it made me angry to the point where I pretty seriously emotional about it, upset about the wasted potential in the film. I had to rush back home and watch Twister just to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Into the Storm was actually just a symptom of a disappointing year at the movies in which I only went to the theater 27 times. I feel like that barely allows me to call myself a movie reviewer at all. It was my lowest total since I started keeping track of my film viewing habits in 1999, and you’d probably have to go back a good way before that to find a time when I saw less. (My record is 69 We had some extenuating circumstances this year, including some major health issues and a fair number of trips, but the bottom line is that there were considerably fewer films we wanted to see this year than there have been in years past. There were plenty of times this past year where I remember wanting to go to the movies but not feeling inspired by any of the options. I’m optimistic about this trend turning around in 2015, as the slate of films has me much more excited, but as far as I’m concerned 2014 was kind of a dud. Now it’s your turn! What were your favorite and least favorite film-related things of 2014? Favorite movies, performances, songs or scores? Favorite news or trailers? Favorite scenes or quotes? Let me know in the comments!

About this project Show list of needs BIG SCREEN & AUDIO RENTING AIRSCREEN screen rent (3x8m) Inflatable screen with professional cinema projection surface. Safe for uses even under Beaufort 5 (38Km/h) wind conditions. Projection surface: 8m wide and 3m high. High quality Microphone. All audio and video cables included High Definition Projector Rent – 1980x1080 Full HD Optical zoom – 3800 ANSI Lumens – 6000 Hour Lamp – HDMI Input High quality surrounding sound equipment. 1000Watt QSC K10 Speakers (2000 Watt Peak) Speaker stands Chairs or theatre seats Equipment mounting and dismounting staff for the show. MANAGEMENT AND TRANSIT OF MOVIES. Management and transit of movies. Insurance Administration Permits GRAPHICS AND PRINTING Catalogue, program, brochure and roll ups printing Developing logistics for production team during 3 months. Content, training, tables and film programme management. PRESS AND COMMUNICATION Spreading campaign, web and written press content developing. EXTRA MANAGEMENT TEAM Attendant, projectionist, sound technician, photo and video coverage during the shows to spread the results. MOVES AND ACOMMODATION Moves and accommodation for guests WEB AND GRAPHIC DESIGN Web site developing, which as well as being an exhibition spreading way it has good usability and it is useful for the participants. |Total||€ 7.920||€ 19.040| Donosskino want to be an itinerant cinema exhibition in Donostia, trying to give visibility to those short and medium films that we call “invisible”. a) Exhibition, because it does not try to be a contest or festival, but a cinema gathering for the passion for cinema, in which, by connecting the audience with the authors, it is the audience itself the one giving credit to this works. b) Cinema, because our intention is to show those works, both short and medium films, which, because of the lack of resources or support, could not reach enough audience and gone unnoticed. c) Itinerant, because we want to show them on new places to discover from the city, using a themed atmosphere where parallel activities take place on every event. We propose an exhibition where both artists and audience enjoy the gathering around a big screen, and very important, creating always new concepts to make it attractive Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign Donosskino uses the cinema strength to get closer to an already seventh art rooted population, those authors investing their time, illusion, effort and savings to produce their projects in the traditional way. This authors deserve to be able to show their creations to a wide audience because this is in our opinion the meaning of cinema. In Donosskino, we want to support this type of film‐makers because even their projects run under a low cost production, there are not low quality films, so we must give them the visibility and appreciation they deserve. From Donosskino we want to show this works in roofs, parks, court walls, greenhouses, etc... converting them on big screens for film projections for a while. Depending on the budget, there will be parallel activities such as workshops, talks or debates inviting specialised professionals on the subject and with the work authors. Nevertheless, we do also want to complement it with activities for kids and live music according to the exhibition concept. Why this is important The main motivation for creating Donosskino, is trying to revitalise and reclaim the short films, looking for the biggest benefit and acknowledgement for the authors. That in the usual networks, have few possibilities to show their works to a more various Every contribution will be used to fund the Exhibition and to cover the costs generated by it, in case the funding exceed the proposed goal, it will be use to increase the number of events. Make visible the invisible, ¡Donosskino! Goals of the crowdfunding campaign The main goal of Kristonkino is to contribute with innovative and attractive events focused on showing the significance of the short films, holding hands with the already big, city cultural agenda. Donosskino is a small and totally independent Exhibition made with a lot of effort and Organized and conceived by people who love all kind of films in order to give visibility to those works deserving it. We are Kristonkino: Group of audiovisual fiction. Kristonkino team is made by, and with professionals, mixing a great diversity of disciplines such as theatre, cinema and The driving team behind Donosskino is made by Xabier Cereceda, Rubén Sainz, Javier Maldonado “Maldo” and Unai García. However, we are always surrounded by good people who join us to our different projects and belong to Kristonkino family: Oskar Moreno, Berta Gomez, Angel Dueñas, Kepa Aretxaga, Josu Redondo, Jade Valero, JuanFe Fernandez, Nerea Azurmendi, Mikel Pintado, Uxue Guerrero, Ane Iturralde, Menó Martin, Haimar Olaskoaga, Jon Herrero, Jone Bizarro... The current team did already some event‐actions: Vermukino: An event taking back the old double‐showings of cinema and vermouth. Kristonkino Rooftop: Action‐event on San Sebastian's old fire‐station building roof, where using a raffle people were invited to an evening event, combining in a innovative way, the best national and international short films.

|Deletions are marked like this.||Additions are marked like this.| |Line 2:||Line 2:| Welcome to MethSoc! Cambridge Student Methodist Society (or MethSoc) is a welcoming, friendly group of Christian students who meet for worship, fellowship, and study, with much emphasis on faith and fun! We do this through various events - our weekly bible study, talks with speakers, end-of-term retreats, and other regular social meet-ups, including formal halls, punting and cinema trips. The society serves students - undergraduate and graduate - of all the colleges of the University of Cambridge, as well as of Anglia Ruskin University. MethSoc is open to anyone of any denomination or none, not just Methodists! In MethSoc you will find many different personalities, and together we manage to get through the madness that inevitably faces students at university (adding a little madness of our own along the way!). The best way to sample what MethSoc has to offer is to come along to some of our events. Everyone is very welcome - we would love to see you!

A June 2017 Update to After Effects CC Is Now Available Faster Motion Graphics templates and Illustrator file import Earlier today, we released an update to the 2017 version of After Effects CC. This update, version 14.2.1, includes significant performance enhancements as well as bug fixes, and is recommended for all users. Motion Graphics templates now render up to 4x faster, and Adobe Illustrator and PDF file import are much faster as well, especially for complex vector graphics. 14.2.1 also fixes several key issues, including “2 or more frames to play back” memory errors, Camera-Shake Deblur effect rendering above 8bpc, and copy-paste of Premiere Pro graphics objects into After Effects. You can install the update through the Creative Cloud desktop application, or you can check for new updates from within any Creative Cloud application by choosing Help > Updates. Please note that it can take 24 hours or more for all of our global data centers to receive the update. If the update isn’t available for you right now, please check back later. If you want to ask questions about these new and changed features, come on over to the After Effects Forums. That’s the best place for questions. Questions left in comments on a blog post are much harder to work with; the blog comment system just isn’t set up for conversations. If you’d like to submit feature requests or bug reports, you can do so at this page. - We fixed the “Cached preview needs 2 or more frames to play back” memory allocation errors, caused by an incorrect estimate of free memory when After Effects attempted to render or preview frames. (Note that you will, however, still see this message if you attempt to preview a single frame.) These fixes should also enable you to preview longer stretches of your timeline. - Text rendering has been optimized. As a result, Dynamic Link rendering performance of After Effects compositions, including Motion Graphics templates and legacy text templates, is now significantly faster, up to 4x faster depending on the composition. - Importing Illustrator or PDF files, or opening a project containing those files, is now 3-4x faster for files with many layers or a very large number of vectors to parse. Miscellaneous bug fixes - The Camera-Shake Deblur effect now renders correctly when the project color depth is set to 16-bpc or 32-bpc. - Buttons in ScriptUI panels have been reverted to the rectangular appearance seen in After Effects 14.1 and previous releases. - The Lumetri Scopes panel no longer displays at a reduced size on Windows when HiDPI display scaling is enabled. - Overbright pixels in 32-bpc compositions no longer lack a color cast, when appropriate, if the Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer, and Footage Panels preference is enabled. - Opening a project that contains a missing JPEG sequence footage now reports the missing sequence correctly instead of “file ‘ ‘ cannot be imported this ‘????’ file is damaged or unsupported.” - The CINEMA 4D renderer no longer fails to render the frame or give an error, “CINEMA 4D Render Failed (5070::0)”, if you enable motion blur when the Composition panel is set to an orthographic 3D view. - Changing Brightness in Preferences > Appearance no longer leaves some parts of the user interface at the previous brightness until you restart After Effects. Note that CEP panel tabs, such as the Libraries panel, still have this problem; we are investigating this remaining problem for a future release. After Effects – Premiere Pro interoperability improvements: - The sample Motion Graphics templates installed by After Effects have been updated so that they no longer fail to render correctly in Premiere Pro if After Effects is installed in a non-English language. - Text layers in a Premiere Pro graphic object now include tracking, kerning, and tsume values when they are brought into After Effects. Also, vertical text is no longer changed to horizontal text. - Shape layers in a Premiere Pro graphic with the fill attribute disabled no longer have a red fill when they are brought into After Effects. - Premiere Pro graphic objects that have effects applied between graphic object layers now replicate the effects on adjustment layers when they are brought into After Effects. A similar problem with masks is solved by replicating the mask as a track matte. Also, keyframes at frame zero in the graphic object are no longer adjusted forward one frame. - Premiere Pro graphic object layers with their visibility eyeballs disabled no longer have their visibility re-enabled when they are brought into After Effects. - Bars and Tone and HD Bars and Tone clips in a Premiere Pro project are now replicated as a placeholder footage object instead of a solid layer when they are brought into After Effects. (Note that the audio tone is still not included, you can add the Tone effect to manually replicate that.) Team Projects fixes - Team Projects no longer prevents footage from being deleted from the project if a composition or sequence has a dependency on the footage. - Team Projects no longer flags a footage item as needing to be shared if the only change was that the footage was relinked to the same source media. Scripting and Expressions fixes - The AVItem.setProxyToNone() scripting method no longer fails with an error message, “After Effects error: AEGP trying to add invalid footage”. - The system.callSystem() scripting method now waits for all tasks called by the command to complete, instead of failing when the command takes a long time to complete. - Enabling expressions for a property on macOS 10.12 using the Option+Shift+= (equals sign) keyboard shortcut no longer replaces the default expression with the ± (plus-minus sign) character.

Comic-Con 2012 Programming Schedule - Complete Movie Listings It's that time of year again already. The San Diego Comic-Con, taking place a week earlier this summer in mid-July, is just around the corner, and that means they're ready to announce the programming schedule. The full list is revealed on their website day by day this week (we'll update below). You can read through the schedule day-by-day right here. I've highlighted a few of the panels that are related to movies that we're planning to cover here on FS.net, and you'll find an abridged list of only specific film-related panels below. There is still a good amount of interesting movie-related panels this year, so read on for the 2012 schedule! Update: We're now updated fully Thursday through Sunday, with listings for the main four days of Comic-Con. As always, for the entire listings and scheduler, visit the official website at: comic-con.org/. Thursday - July 12th, 2012: 10:15-11:15 - TheOneRing.net: The Truth About The Hobbit — The Hobbit movie is imminent just at the book turns 75. With on-set visits, intrepid reporting, and the pulse of fans worldwide, the TORn staff shred rumors, answer questions, share New Zealand images-but not as part of the official publicity machine. Also featuring a special visual presentation from Weta Workshop and an account of Fandalf traveling the world and (all that is the tip of the iceberg!). Featuring Cliff Broadway (Ringers: Lord of the Fans) and Larry D. Curtis (Hobbit embedded reporter) and additional staff and guests. Room 6DE 11:15-12:00 - DreamWorks Animation — DreamWorks Animation's chief creative officer Bill Damaschke anchors a diverse group of filmmakers to demo and discuss the artistic ambition and technical innovation that goes into moviemaking at DreamWorks Animation. Moderated by Anthony Breznican from Entertainment Weekly. Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront 11:30-12:30 - Trailer Park — A Comic-Con tradition comes home to Hall H! See the latest in trailers from your upcoming soon-to-be-favorite films, including some in that new-fangled 3D contraption (glasses provided, but please give them back as you exit the hall). Hall H 12:45-1:45 - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 — Summit Entertainment presents a sneak peek at the highly anticipated conclusion of The Twilight Saga films. This is a must-see for fans interested in the story's final chapter. You will be shown exclusive footage from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2 and be treated to a cast and filmmaker Q&A session providing details on the epic finale. Hall H 2:05-3:05 - Walt Disney Studios — Walt Disney Studios hosts a Q&A panel featuring the imaginative director of Frankenweenie, Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland); a special look at the world of Oz The Great and Powerful with director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man trilogy); and the illustrious voice cast of Walt Disney Animation Studios' Wreck-It Ralph, including John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) and Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), and director Rich Moore (Futurama). Hall H 3:00-4:00 - Hotel Transylvania — Animation superstar and 12-time Emmy nominee Genndy Tartakovsky, who previously created Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan and Star Wars: Clone Wars, makes his directorial debut this year with Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania. Join Genndy for an exclusive sneak peek at footage from Hotel Transylvania and an exciting look behind the scenes of this very unique project, which boasts a hilarious voice cast. Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront 3:25-4:25 - Jackie Chan's CZ12 — Jackie Chan & JJ Productions Limited are happy to bring you Jackie Chan's upcoming classical full-action feature movie CZ12, which is produced and directed by Jackie Chan. The movie stars Jackie Chan, Kwone Sang Woo and with a special guest appearance by Oliver Platt. It is filmed in multi-territories including China, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vanuatu, Australia, and Latvia. Trailers will be presented and a Q&A will be held for the film. Hall H 4:30-5:30 - Masters of the Web — The annual gathering of some of the most prominent and influential film pundits on the web discuss the film industry, writing for film online, film fandom, and a whole lot more. Moderated by star of the new Lionsgate film Dredd, Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings), with special surprise cast members from the film. Panelists include Mike Sampson (ScreenCrush.com), Jen Yamato (MovieLine.com), Mali Elfman (ScreenCrave.com), Erik Davis (Movies.com), Steve "Frosty" Weintraub (Colider.com), Grae Drake (Fandango.com), Jenna Busch (Cocktails with Stan Lee), and Edward Douglas (ComingSoon.net), and hosted by John Campea (AMC Theatres). AMC is generously providing free movies passes to all attendees of the panel this year! Room 24ABC 4:45-5:45 - The Expendables 2-Real American Heroes — Sylvester Stallone and the legendary cast of the sequel to 2010's smash hit film preview the real-deal muscles, weapons, skills, and explosions that went into making a film even bigger and badder than the original. Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will join the panel discussion. Hall H 6:00-7:00 - The Character of Music — Composer and executive producer teams discuss the dynamics of music in film and television. Blake Neely and Greg Berlanti (Arrow), Chris Lennertz and Eric Kripke (Revolution, Supernatural), Joseph Trapanese and Charlie Bean (TRON: Uprising), and Nathan Johnson and Rian Johnson (Looper) discuss their working relationship, how music plays a character in their stories, and the intense process of scoring their projects. Moderated by Anne Cecere, director of film and TV relations of BMI, and Chandler Poling, founder of White Bear PR. Attendees will get a sneak peek into their work and receive fun giveaways. Room 5AB 6:00-7:00 - The Science of Science Fiction: Canon Fodder — Aliens, robots, wormholes, superheroes…there's more than a little science in all of these, but how can that science be kept straight and consistent across multiple movies and seasons of TV shows? Panelists Jon Spaihts (writer, Prometheus), Jane Espenson (producer/writer, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica), Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (writers, Thor, X-Men: First Class), Jaime Paglia (producer/writer, Eureka), and Dr. Kevin Grazier (science advisor, Battlestar Galactica, Defiance), talk about the ups and downs of respecting the science in ongoing science fiction TV and movie series. Moderated by Dr. Phil Plait (writer/host, Phil Plait's Bad Universe, Discover magazine's Bad Astronomy blog), and courtesy of The Science and Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences. Room 25ABC 6:00-7:00 - RiffTrax Live — Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (RiffTrax.com, Mystery Science Theater 3000) return to Comic-Con to perform another live, hilarious riff to a classic short. Join the riffers for fun, laughs and the latest news about their upcoming "Manos" The Hands of Fate and Birdemic live shows, playing for only one night each in select movie theatres nationwide this August and October. RiffTrax.com is the site where MST3K-style humor meets mainstream movies, TV shows and vintage shorts. At RiffTrax they don't make movies, they make them funny! Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront 6:15-8:15 - The Virtual Drive-In — Come with us again to those thrilling days of yesteryear where one of the few places you could see offbeat genre films was at your local drive-in, huddled safely in your car as the summer sky darkened around you. At least that was the germ of an idea that gave birth to this panel last year, and the reception by those fans who attended was so positive they're doing it again. So, welcome to the second edition of the Virtual Drive-In, where you will preview three twisted tales by some talented filmmakers who will all be appearing on the panel to discuss their work and take your questions. Moderated by Robert Meyer Burnett. The featured films are: Branded -- A dark and mind-bending journey into a surreal, dystopian society where mega-corporations have unleashed a monstrous global conspiracy to get inside our minds and keep the population deluded, dependent and passive. One man's quest to unlock the truth behind the conspiracy will lead to an epic battle with the hidden forces that really control our world. Appearing on stage is director Jamie Bradshaw. Crave -- Aiden (Josh Lawson) fantasizes about a better life away from his gruesome job as a crime scene photographer working alongside his detective friend Pete (Ron Perlman)-a heroic life where he falls in love with the perfect woman and dispenses justice on the hard streets of Detroit. When he meets the alluring young Virginia (Emma Lung) and steals a gun from a crime scene, the line between his darkest fantasies and reality begins to blur, with deadly consequences. This visually arresting psychological noir begins its festival run with its world premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival and continues on to other festivals around the world. Appearing on stage: Josh Lawson (House of Lies) and director Charles de Lauzirika, with other guests to be announced. Coldwater -- "Make sure the past isn't watching you." Andre agrees to help out his friend Robert by taking over a housesitting job at an unusual house nestled in the heart of Coldwater Canyon. As the day turns into night, Andre experiences strange things that lead him to believe he is not alone and that someone or something is watching him. Appearing in person are writer/director Dave Parker (The Hills Run Red) and star Ivan Djurovic (24). Hall H 7:00-8:00 - Inside The Batmobile — No vehicle has ever captured fans' imagination like the Batmobile. Be the first to see an exclusive Comic-Con, 22-minute sneak peek at the upcoming documentary The Batmobile, an in-depth examination of its many incarnations and impressive history. A panel discussion will follow the screening featuring distinguished Batman experts George Barris, designer of the famed 1966 Batmobile; Andy Smith, builder of the modern-day Dark Knight "Tumbler"; respected producer/author Michael Uslan (The Boy Who Loved Batman); Ralph Cirella and Jon Hein, hosts of GEEKTIME! Sirius-XM Howard 101; Batmobile designer Tim Flattery (Batman Forever); Batmobile builder Charley Zurian (Batman Forever, Batman & Robin); and a few surprise guests. Stay to the end, when a drawing among all panel attendees will determine which lucky five fans can sit in a Batmobile -- which is on display all weekend in the "Batcave" between Hall H and the Bayfront Hilton. Room 6DE 7:00-8:00 - History of the Modern Zombie — Zombie Research Society hosts a panel of leading zombie experts moderated by ZRS founder Matt Mogk (Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies). Panelists include Max Brooks (Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z), Scott Kenemore (Zen of Zombie, Zombie, Ohio), Aaron Sagers (CNN Geek Out, entertainment writer, TV host), Steven Schlozman, M.D. (zombie autopsies, Harvard Medical School), and Bradley Voytek, Ph.D. (University of California, San Francisco). Join them for a spirited discussion about the evolution and impact of the modern zombie, and get all your pressing questions answered before it's too late! Room 7AB 8:30-10:30 - Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope — San Diego Comic-Con premiere screening of the ultimate fanboy documentary from executive producers Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Harry Knowles, and Thomas Tull. Q&A to follow with director Morgan Spurlock (Warrior Poets) and special surprise guests. Ballroom 20 Friday - July 13th, 2012: 10:45-11:45 - ParaNorman: Behind the Scenes — Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Travis Knight, Chris Butler, and Sam Fell discuss making their new stop-motion-animated comedy thriller, ParaNorman, made in 3D. Never-before-seen footage will be shown from the Laika movie that Focus Features is opening nationwide on August 17. Hall H 12:30-1:30 - Firefly 10-Year Anniversary Reunion — Calling all Browncoats to unite! It has been 10 years since the crew of the Serenity took flight in the now infamous show Firefly. Science Channel will reunite, for the first time ever, Captain Mal Reynolds and the crew from the ship. Join Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and many more for a trip down memory lane, some special surprises, and exclusive Science Channel giveaways. SHINY. Ballroom 20 3:00-4:00 - Walt Disney Animation Studios: Wreck-it Ralph: The Art of Story — Join Walt Disney Animation Studios story artists Josie Trinidad (Wreck-It Ralph, Tangled), Raymond Persi (Wreck-It Ralph, The Simpsons), Leo Matsuda (Wreck-It Ralph, Princess and the Frog), Nancy Kruse (Wreck-It Ralph, The Simpsons) and writer Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph) as they discuss the art of story for the upcoming feature Wreck-It Ralph, in theaters November 2nd. Room 6DE 4:00-5:00 - Motion Picture and Television Illustrators of the Art Directors Guild — Film starts with an idea that must be brought to life by a team of creative men and women. The illustrators and storyboard artists use their skills and imaginations to develop the transcendent visuals of the big screen, be it adventure son distant worlds or earthly hovels. Meet the artists as they discuss their craft and answer questions: moderator Tim Burgard (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Benton Jew (G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Dave Lowery (Oz the Great and Powerful), Derek Gogol (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), Trevor Goring (Real Steel), and Chris Baker (War of the Worlds). Room 24ABC 4:05-4:35 - Screen Gems: Resident Evil: Retribution — In Resident Evil: Retribution, we learn more about Alice's mysterious past as she continues to hunt those at The Umbrella Corporation responsible for the T-virus outbreak, a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, including the return of Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. Appearing in person: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Mika Nakashima and writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson. Please join them for a preview and discussion of this highly successful film franchise, based on the popular video game series, and watch never before seen footage from the latest installment, Resident Evil: Retribution, in state-of-the art 3D. Hall H 4:15-5:15 - Entertainment Weekly: Powerful Women in Pop Culture (aka Women Who Kick Ass!) — Fan-favorites Kristin Bauer van Straten (True Blood), Sarah Wayne Callies (Walking Dead), Kristin Kreuk (Beauty and the Beast), Nikki Reed (Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2), and Anna Torv (Fringe) open up about the power and privilege of playing characters that have redefined the rules for women. Basically, a discussion with women who kick ass. Moderated by EW's Lynette Rice. Ballroom 20 4:35-6:35 - Sony Pictures — Total Recall - Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his ordinary existence. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. Based on Philip K. Dick's classic story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," this brand new take on some of his most visionary ideas. Directed by Len Wiseman, who will join stars Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston on stage. Looper - In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented-but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper"-a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)-is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good…until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. Writer/director Rian Johnson will join Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt to discuss the film. Elysium - Ever since writer-director Neill Blomkamp broke through with his first feature film, District 9, people have been wondering what he has in store for an encore. Be a part of the first audience anywhere to get a first look at his new movie, Elysium, as stars Sharlto Copley, Matt Damon and Jodie Foster join Neill and producer Simon Kinberg on stage. Hall H 5:30-6:30 - Dark Horse: Joss Whedon — Long before directing the biggest superhero film in history, Joss Whedon rewarded fans the world over with some of the most compelling characters and plotlines in the history of comics, television, and movies. Here's your chance to find out what he has in store for us next, and hear exclusive insight into Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the ever-expanding number of titles in Dark Horse's line of Season 9 comics. Ballroom 20 7:00-8:00 - Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Celebration — In 1982, Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott's classic adaptation of SF master Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was released to theaters and forever changed the face of cinematic science fiction. Filmmaker, BR expert, and acclaimed author Paul M. Sammon (Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner) hosts a 30th anniversary celebration of this influential masterpiece. Sammon (who was present throughout BR's filming and met Philip K. Dick) will interview numerous BR cast and crewmembers, including BR art director David Snyder and BR: The Final Cut producer Charles de Lauzirika. Be there to meet these and other very special BR guests. Room 6BCF 8:00-9:30 - The Totally Rad Show Live: 5-Year Anniversary — Hosts Alex Albrecht (Four Points), Dan Trachtenberg (Portal: No Escape), and Jeff Cannata (Weekend Confirmed) bring their Webby and Podcast Award-winning geek culture show back to Comic-Con for the fifth year. Join the guys for an explosion of movie, video game, TV, and comic book news and reviews, and see what makes this Revision3 show such an Internet phenomenon. Room 24ABC Saturday - July 14th, 2012: 10:00-11:00 - After Earth — Enter the world of After Earth with an in-depth panel that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the universe of the upcoming film and comic book. With the film now in post-production and set to hit theaters next June, screenwriter Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) and director of photography Peter Suschitzky (The Empire Strikes Back) will discuss the making of the film. They will be joined by comic book artist Beni Lobel (Spanish horror comic anthology Cthulu; G.I. Joe comic books; Torchwood: Web of Lies motion comic), and writers Robert Greenberger (Iron Man, Batman, and Hellboy novels) and Michael Friedman (Star Trek and X-Men novels) -- the creators of the comic book After Earth: Innocence, which will introduce Kitai and Cypher Raige (played by Jaden and Will Smith in the After Earth film). Also joining the panel is Eisner Award winner Peter David (Star Trek novels and comic books; The Incredible Hulk), who is writing the After Earth prequel novel and also created the After Earth bible with Greenberger and Friedman. Room 6A 10:00-11:00 - Film and TV Production Designers of the Art Directors Guild — In collaboration with a highly skilled art department, the production designer lays out the design plan that will guide a small army of illustrators, set designers, decorators, carpenters, sculptors, painters, and artisans of every sort in creating small worlds to warm the heart and entire civilizations to fire the imagination. Designers include Suzuki Ingerslev (True Blood), Bill Creber (original Planet of the Apes), Rick Heinrichs (Dark Shadows), Thomas Walsh (Vampires), Dominic Watkins (Snow White and the Huntsman), and moderator John Muto (Terminator 2:3D). Room 25ABC 11:30-12:30 - Save the Date: Your New Favorite Film — This may be the first comic book film that isn't based on an actual comic book; instead, Save the Date uses the style and sensibility of indie comics by renowned graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown as a jumping off point to tell a contemporary story of the trials, pain, and happiness of modern love. Explore the challenges and advantages of working in film versus comics with cartoonist/screenplay co-writer Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy, Darth Vader and Son), director Michael Mohan (One Too Many Mornings), and producers Jordan Horowitz (The Kids Are All Right) and Michael Roiff (Waitress), and discover how the cast has been influenced and inspired by comics and geek culture, with Lizzy Caplan (Party Down), Alison Brie (Community, Mad Men), Martin Starr (Freaks & Geeks, Party Down), Geoffrey Arend (500 Days of Summer), and Mark Webber (Scott Pilgrim). Join them for a lively session moderated by Noel Murray (The A.V. Club). Room 5AB 11:30-12:30 - Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained — The Weinstein Company presents a sneak peek at the highly anticipated new film from acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino. Fans will get to see exclusive footage from Django Unchained and take part in a special discussion with Tarantino and the cast. You won't want to miss this! Hall H 12:45-1:45 - Open Road Films: End of Watch and Silent Hill: Revelations 3D — Global exclusive! Catch an early look at the highly anticipated action film End of Watch, with special guests Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña who play police officers patrolling the meanest streets of south central Los Angeles, and writer/director David Ayer (Training Day). Also, based on the groundbreaking video game franchise from Konami, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is the sequel to the hit film Silent Hill. Experience the world premiere of 3D footage from an unparalleled horror experience with special guests Adelaide Clemens (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Kit Harington (HBO's Game of Thrones), director Michael J. Bassett, and producer Samuel Hadida. Hall H 2:00-3:00 - Trailer Park I — See the latest in trailers from your upcoming soon-to-be-favorite films, including some in 3D (glasses provided, but please give them back as you exit the hall). Hall H 2:30-5:00 - Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Preview Their Upcoming Lineups — Legendary Pictures: Pacific Rim-From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' epic sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim. When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes -- a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) -- who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse. Pacific Rim also stars Idris Elba, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Day. Warner Bros. Pictures: Man Of Steel-Details coming soon. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey-From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Jackson returns to Middle-earth in an adventure that begins 60 years before the events depicted in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The first of two films adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's enduringly popular masterpiece, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows titular Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who-along with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a band of 13 Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage)-is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. The film's ensemble cast includes Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Hall H 3:00-4:00 - Indiana Jones Fan Group — Grab your fedora and dust off your Aldens, the Indyfans are back! Brandon Kleyla gathers the troops once again as they discuss all things Indiana Jones! Attractions, Blu-rays, toys, impersonation contest, you name it-if it's Indy, they'll cover it! Room 28E 4:15-5:15 - EPIX Originals: William Shatner and Roger Corman — Two legends of the entertainment world take to the Comic-Con stage to preview their latest projects. Get a gander at the EPIX Original movie, Roger Corman's first-ever made in 3D, Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader, in which a meek college co-ed is transformed into a gigantic cheerleader. Then take a sneak peek at William Shatner's Get a Life!, an EPIX original documentary based on Shatner's hugely popular book, in which he examines the cultural phenomena of Star Trek, its fan-following, and his own role within it. To top it all off the panel will be moderated by "Mr. Comic Book Men" himself, Kevin Smith. Room 6A 5:00-6:00 - Costume Designers and Illustrators: From Concept to Reality — Join a discussion with the creative minds that help bring your favorite sci-fi, fantasy and comic book characters to life on the big screen through the art of costume design and illustration. Learn how Costume Designers Guild members Shawna Trpcic (The Cabin In The Woods), Monique Prudhomme (Underworld Awakening), and Varya Avdyushko (Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter) and costume illustrators Christian Cordella (Snow White, Hunger Games, Thor), Constantine Sekeris (Green Lantern, Thor, Star Trek), Phillip Boute Jr. (Man of Steel, Star Trek, Hansel & Gretel, Twilight), Brian Velenzuela (Star Trek, The Sorcerer's Apprentice), and Rosi Gabl (xXx, Mission To Mars) take costumes from concept to reality. Room 24ABC 5:15-5:45 - Trailer Park II — Once more with feeling! See the latest in trailers from your upcoming soon-to-be-favorite films, including some in 3D (glasses provided, but please give them back as you exit the hall). Hall H 6:00-7:00 - Marvel Studios: Iron Man 3 — Producer Kevin Feige and special guests provide an inside look at the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hall H 7:00-8:00 - Building Props for Sci-Fi in the 21st Century — Sci-fi props already have the advantage of a sharp aesthetic, but in this day and age, how do you take sci-fi prop making and the replica making that tends to follow to the next level? Andy Gore (QMx), Jack Kenney (Warehouse 13), Andy Siegel (Avatar, The Amazing Spiderman, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), John Eblan (Star Wars Episodes II and III), and Nick Robatto (Doctor Who, Torchwood) discuss how your favorite props are made, from concept to execution. The panel will discuss the impact of accelerated production schedules and technology on how TV and movie props are conceived and created. You will also learn the various types of prop making, from working props and digital modeling to 3D printers and the use of advanced materials. Room 24ABC 7:15-9:15 - Comi-Kev: Q&A with Kevin Smith — For like the millionth year in a row, Saturday at Comic-Con's not over ’til the fat lady sings…and that fat lady is @ThatKevinSmith! Taking the the Hall H stage like he takes the desserts off your lunch tray, the guy in the hockey jersey will A all of your Qs! Query about Comic Book Men, Spoilers, SModcast.com, his book Tough Sh*t, Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, his Fat Man on Batman podcast, or just ask him about stuff he's got nothing to do with! But get ready to listen because this fatty is chatty! Warning: Kevin Smith throws around adult language like it's clever. It's not, but he loves it. A lot. Hall H 8:00-9:00 - Star Wars Trivia Panel — Think you know all about the galaxy far, far away? Want to win valuable prizes? Hosts and San Diego Star Wars Society co-founders Linda Crispien and Brendan Prout put you to the test! The San Diego Star Wars Society has challenged fans at Star Wars Celebration III and Comic Con International for 11 years with intriguing trivia. The games begin with a kids round, where kids 12 and under are eligible to play. The remainder of the games are open to all ages. Do you have what it takes to win? Come to this panel to find out…and may The Force be with you! Room 23ABC 8:00-9:00 - Make It So: What Interface Design and Science Fiction Can Learn From Each Other — Chris Noessel (co-author, managing director, and practice lead for Interaction Design at San Francisco software design agency Cooper) and Nathan Shedroff (co-author, program chair of MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts) share material from their forthcoming Rosenfeld Media book, due in August, that uses video clips of interfaces from sci-fi movies and television shows to trace the lines of influence between design in sci-fi and design in the real world. Room 24ABC Sunday - July 15th, 2012: 2:00-3:00 - 501st Costuming 101: Dressing to Serve the Empire! — This panel describes the essentials about what it takes to create a costume that meets the standards of quality for entry into the 501st Legion. It will provide an overview of what is involved in creating a costume, the different costume categories, and how much time is involved in creating a costume that is screen accurate. A panel of experts will describe, display, and demonstrate tips and techniques used for their costume specialty. They will also share information about the mission of the 501st legion. Room 24ABC 2:00-3:00 Max Brooks: Zombie Survival 101 — Max Brooks, screenwriter and author of bestselling books The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, is the world's leading authority on the defense against a ghoulish uprising! Renowned for his campus and convention lectures nationwide, Brooks comes to San Diego Comic-Con to share his insight into the rotting minds of the undead, reveal how the Zombie Survival Guide came into existence, and field questions from zombie-phobic fans! You dare not miss this lecture -- your very life may depend on it! Room 7AB 3:00-4:00 - Behind the Music with CW3PR: Composers and Singers on Creating the Perfect Sound for TV and Film — Singer and composer collaborations are essential to the creation of poignant and thrilling moments in TV and film. Learn how these dynamic collaborations work and how a singer's voice can amplify an original score from composers Trevor Morris (The Borgias), Danny Jacob (Phineas and Ferb), and Robert Duncan (Castle), singers Lisbeth Scott (True Blood) and Laura Dickinson (Phineas and Ferb), and others. Moderated by Phineas and Ferb creators Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan Povenmire. Room 7AB 3:45-4:45 - Drew: The Man Behind the Poster — Screening a premiere clip from the feature-length documentary about movie poster artist Drew Struzan, which includes exclusive interviews with George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, and many others. Followed by a Q&A panel that will include artist Drew Struzan, actor Thomas Jane, director Erik P. Sharkey, producer Charles Ricciardi, composer Ryan Shore, co-cinematographer and supervising editor Greg Boas, editor Jeff Yorkes, Stephen Saffel of Titan Books, and Zach Martin of Skywalker Sound Studios. Room 5AB 4:00-5:00 - 15 Years Since Philosopher's Stone: Harry Potter Fandom in 2012 — Seven books from J. K. Rowling -- or ten, depending on how you count -- plus hundreds of thousands of fanfics. Eight studio movies -- plus dozens of popular fanfilms, musicals, and songs. One theme park -- but soon there'll be three or more! An international museum exhibition -- and piles of fan-made shirts, crafts, fanart, CDs and DVDs. An encyclopedic website -- and fancons, fan-made wikis, and history courses on the impact of the Harry Potter fandom. We'll look back at 15 years of Harry Potter fandom and try to predict -- better than Trelawney! -- where we go from here. Room 6DE For the complete line-up, head to Comic-Con.org. We will continue to keep this fully updated with ✔ Friday, ✔ Saturday and ✔ Sunday panels once they're announced. It starts a bit slower this year, but ends with a bang, as Saturday looks to be awesome non-stop. Can't wait to head down to San Diego! Thoughts? Reader Feedback - 12 Comments BOB STENCIL!!!!!! O where art' thou Antonio on Jun 28, 2012 WOW!!! I would love to sit in the Batmobile!! C.j. on Jun 28, 2012 I agree. I want my BOB STENCIL fix! Make it so firstshowing gods. Nick M. on Jun 28, 2012 I really love know more about " paraNorman ", so long waiting for it Ehsan Davodi on Jun 29, 2012 I'm just dropping in to say, I hate all you lucky fuckers who got tickets to Comic-Con and get to experience all the awesome stuff while I'm sitting here at home, hating my life! Damn youuuuus! *shakes fist angrily* =P SuicidalOptimist on Jun 29, 2012 Man, I wish I could be there for that Firefly panel. grimjob on Jun 30, 2012 The Dark Knight Rises/Chrysler Trailer Competition has begun! Check out my video (a favorite would be much appreciated) - http://bit.ly/MyfPsV Dustin on Jun 30, 2012 Shatner and Corman, now that would be a cool thing to see. grimjob on Jun 30, 2012 3-4: Indiana Jones fans,, I would've thought The Crystal Skull had killed the Indy franchise 🙁 TefferMcG on Jul 1, 2012 Hm, is there room for comic books as well, or is it all film/TV now? David Banner on Jul 1, 2012 Bob $tencil is all that matters. Chiroptera Exsanguination on Jul 1, 2012 Sorry, no commenting is allowed at this time.

Salons are a common part of any UK town, so if you’re planning on breaking into the hairdressing business, it’s important you know how to make yourself stand out from the crowd and attract new clients who will become regulars. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to get your salon’s name out there. So, to help you out, here’s our ultimate list of the top 13 marketing ideas for your hairdressing business. 1. Allow online bookings These days, we’re all used to convenience. We’re used to being able to book anything from a table reservation to a cinema trip online, and your salon should be no different. Not only will this rid your potential clients of phone-anxiety, but it’ll also make your life a lot easier too! Managing calls and emails from clients wanting to book appointments can take up a lot of time. Online bookings mean your clients can book 24/7 and it removes the risk of scheduling conflicts. Read more: 11 Steps To Setting Up A Successful Salon 2. Build a user-friendly website If you don’t have a website, you’re putting yourself at a massive disadvantage from the get-go. If a potential customer is searching for a salon in your town or city and you don’t have a website, it’s likely a rival salon with a website will see that customer walk through their door. Your website should be easy to navigate, attractive and include helpful information such as your opening hours, locations, phone number, price list and your online booking system! Read more: The Best Website Builders of 2018 3. List your business on web directories Once you’ve set up your website, you should be listing your hairdressing business on Google My Business, Yelp, Yahoo, Yellow Pages, and more. When you do this, you can link back to your website, and more people will be able to view your website and see how great your business is! Plus, linking back to your website on sites such as these gives your Google ranking a boost, so you’ll appear higher up when people search for salons in your area. 4. Promote your salon on social media Social media is one of your best friends in the marketing world. Many of your potential clients are on platforms like Instagram and Facebook every day, so what better way to reach them? You can use Facebook’s Business Manager to target your target audience by age, demographic, gender and location to increase the chances of getting your salon in front of the right people. There are plenty of things you can do on your social media pages organically too. You can post pictures of happy clients with their new haircut, a photo of your services and price list, or post exciting business updates. If you’re using Instagram to promote your services, remember to use relevant hashtags and tag your salon’s location to make your page more discoverable. 5. Have “refer a friend” benefits You can put a lot of money into elaborate marketing techniques, but word-of-mouth still seems to be the most trusted. After all, you’d listen to your friend’s opinion over an advert virtually every time. So, if a regular client always seems happy with your service, encourage them to spread the word with a few incentives. If they’re kind enough to do some free advertising, why not reward them with a discount on their next visit? Or a free beauty treatment? You’ll be surprised how many referred friends walk through your door! 6. Sponsor a local fashion show Getting involved with the local community and sponsoring a local fashion show is both great PR and the perfect way to showcase your skills. If you offer to do the runway models’ hair in exchange for your salon to be in the show’s brochure, everyone in the audience will be admiring your hairdressing skills as well as the outfits! What’s more, sponsoring fashion shows regularly means you’ll be getting your hair-dos in front of a lot of local people, will build up an impressive photo collection for your portfolio, and you may even find some regular clients in the models! 7. Pop up a selfie station You’ve just had your hair done, and you love it – what’s the first thing you do? Take a selfie of course! Set up a selfie station in your salon, complete with your salon logo and your own hashtag, and it’s great free advertising if a happy client uploads one of their selfies to Instagram! 8. Collect email addresses Email marketing is a very powerful tool. Getting an email address can prove invaluable to getting new and existing clients through your door. You can use them for appointment confirmations and reminders, newsletter updates, and exclusive offers. Building up an email database can be a challenge, especially if you’re starting from scratch, but competitions are a great way to do this. You could offer a hair care bundle or free haircuts for a year for the prize, and to enter you need to fill out your name and email address. With any luck, you’ll be closing the competition with a lot more email addresses than you started with. However, it’s essential you adhere to data protection laws. When entrants are filling out the form you need to make sure you give them the option to tick a box which states they’re happy for you to email them with marketing activity. If they don’t tick it, you can’t contact them. Read more: Checklist: GDPR For Small Businesses 9. Offer birthday discounts A lot of people do something special for their birthday, so they’ll want their hair looking extra nice! Now you’ve got a database of emails (that have opted-in for marketing activity), you can send out a birthday promotion where they can get a discounted birthday cut. 10. Reward your customers for loyalty It’s always nice to reward loyal clients to show you appreciate them. The best thing about loyalty programs is that there are so many options to choose from for how you reward your treasured regulars. You could go for the classic approach, where once they reach five visits, for example, they get the 6th haircut free. Or, instead, you can add value instead of discounting. If your salon also does beauty treatments, you could add in a free manicure while they wait for their hair to colour or offer them a free deep conditioning treatment. The hope being that they’ll like the free treatment so much that they’ll pay to have it again next time. If all else fails, a complimentary glass of fizz while they get their hair cut certainly won’t go amiss! 11. Make use of reviews 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their family or friends, so it’s vital that you capitalise on this. Make sure the reviews option is switched on your Facebook page and encourage happy customers to leave you a review. 12. Have a hairdressing blog on your website Promoting your salon with a blog will help your marketing efforts for several reasons. It not only shows you know your stuff about the industry, but it can also improve your website’s search engine ranking. By posting fun and relevant articles like hair and beauty tips or industry news regularly, you’re more likely to appear higher up in search results and so more people will visit your website. You can also share your content on your social networks to encourage engagement and page likes. Read more: How To Write A Brilliant Salon Blog 13. Be a walking billboard Be your own greatest advertisement – you want your hair doing by someone who has fantastic hair themselves after all! Have you ever been complimented on your hair while you’re out and about? Apart from being flattered and saying thank you, next time tell them you did it yourself and hand them a business card. We hope you found this list of ideas helpful! Don’t forget, if you’re just getting your hairdressing business started, be sure to check out our hairdresser insurance.

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Today 6:00 AM - The 25 Tom Cruise movies that are essential viewing Today 6:00 AM - No, that guy didn’t really fly alone on a Delta flight Saturday 4:31 PM - Fans are paying to meet their favorite YouTubers online through pilot program Saturday 2:54 PM - Behold: 12 straight hours of ‘Stranger Things” Alexei drinking a Slurpee Saturday 2:05 PM - Influencer couple under fire for using holy water to splash genitals in Bali Saturday 1:29 PM - These are the 10 best villains DC comics has ever conceived Saturday 1:11 PM - The Daily Wire accused of stealing art design from pop artist for its merchandise Saturday 12:09 PM - Instagram model Rianne Meijer on keeping it real with her followers Saturday 10:52 AM - How to stream Chelsea vs. Leicester City Saturday 8:30 AM - Florida man arrested after allegedly texting girlfriend his mass shooting plans Saturday 8:27 AM - How to stream Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo Saturday 8:20 AM It’s time to say ‘hasta la vista’ to the summer blockbuster The Internet buzz over Deadpool‘s February release signals a new era for cinema as we know it. Back in June, film website The Dissolve published a list of the 50 greatest summer blockbusters ever. It was extremely comprehensive and quite varied, demonstrating the myriad ways the tradition of the summer blockbuster has become an indelible part of American pop culture overtime. Which is why it was ironic that by August 29th, the New York Times’ Brooks Barnes published a piece about how 2014 saw the worst summer at the American box office since 1997. In trying to analyze why this was the case, pundits pointed to everything from global distractions like the World Cup to Hollywood’s general lack of originality and reliance on sequels and potential blockbusters that got pushed out of the summer season and into later release dates. Such films included Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, Fast & Furious 7, which was delayed following the death of star Paul Walker, and The Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending. However, given the bizarre content of the last entry, it’s quite possible that the studio’s decision to move Jupiter Ascending out of the summer season was a safe bet. Yet the other possibility as to why the summer blockbuster season is suffering has less to do with the actual movies that are coming out and more to do with summer itself. For instance, following some leaked footage that recently made the rounds on the Internet, it was announced this week that Fox and Marvel Comics are moving along with X-Men spin-off Deadpool. The project, which is set to star Ryan Reynolds, has been gestating for years, but the green light this time around looks to be real. Deadpool is the kind of significant property that has potential to be a major superhero movie, usually marketed to prop up one weekend of the summer… except that it’s coming out in February. Of course, this could simply be due to the poor performance of Ryan Reynolds’ last attempt at a superhero franchise, 2011’s Green Lantern (a career low he is still recovering from) and end up being another case of the studio hedging their bets where a risky undertaking is concerned, a la Jupiter Ascending. However, it could be more than that, too. For years, the summer blockbuster has been king of Hollywood. But now, things are starting to look a little bit different. While any seismic shifts have yet to occur, there are subtle signs that Hollywood’s reliance on this season as the most important time to release tentpoles is changing. In an article called “Prepare for the death of the summer blockbuster movie,” the Telegraph’s film critic, Robbie Collin, traces the origins of the tradition back to the only logical place, the place you absolutely must start if you’re looking at the summer blockbuster, and the place where Steven Spielberg first made us afraid to go in the water. The idea of summer as moviegoing prime time surfaced in 1975, in the shape of a rampant great white shark: cinema, like Brody, Quint and Hooper, suddenly needed a bigger boat. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was released in the U.S. shortly before the Fourth of July weekend in 409 cinemas… Ever since, Hollywood has unveiled its biggest, brightest produce in the summer months, at a rate of roughly one film per week from May to mid-August. It’s a kind of tasting menu composed entirely of sweet courses, in which each dish quickens your heart and rots your teeth. To say that summer blockbusters rot your teeth is a harsh way of putting it, but Collin’s point holds. Jaws and Star Wars are generally considered to be the end of the “New Hollywood” era of American cinema, and the beginning of a golden age for blockbusters, which some alarmists have said basically ruined movies. But whether we’re talking quality candy or bargain bin junk, Collin’s assertion that summer blockbusters, good or bad, will rot your teeth has everything to do with how many of them Hollywood churns out within the span of a few months. But this over-saturation didn’t work as well on the American public this year. As The Huffington Post’s Robert Marich points out, “The 21 percent drop in ticket revenue to just over $3.8 billion translates to around $1 billion less in box office than a record summer haul last year.” He goes on, observing that, “Year-to-date (meaning as of January), domestic box office is down just 5 percent, meaning comparative box office was actually higher in the winter and Spring of 2014. But those gains were more than erased by a lousy summer—and summer is the peak season for cinema.” “But wait a second,” you might be thinking, “does that mean things are getting worse, or are they just plateauing?” And you would be smart to ask that. Because with several months of 2014 left to go, there are no real signs that the film industry is in big trouble (at least not yet), even taking into account a lousy summer. Last year marked the highest box office total ever, up from a previous record the year before. And for awhile now, people have been predicting that 2015 will mark another all time box office high, given the films that are slated to be released. Even this year hasn’t been as bad as many have made it out to be. Consider that a movie like Transformers: Age of Extinction is (somewhat frighteningly) the 11th highest grossing film of all time, despite an average performance domestically for a blockbuster. This is due almost solely to its stellar performance overseas, which is increasingly where things really count, and where the idea of the summer blockbuster is less ingrained in the culture. And that’s all the more impressive when you remember that the foreign box office doesn’t yield as much money per ticket as it does in the United States. Barnes writes, “In China, for instance, as little as 25 cents of every box office dollar comes back to Hollywood; in the United States, it’s 50 percent.” And keep in mind that the overseas market was also in theory supposed to be spending all their time watching the World Cup. So with all that said, the core notion of the blockbuster is alive and well. And that the blockbuster is thriving overseas, where technically, tickets count less, means that it’s not going away anytime soon. However, the notion of the summer blockbuster is a different story. Collin observes that in the United Kingdom, “The most successful summer blockbuster of 2014 was released in February… The film was The Lego Movie: to date, the most popular film in the U.K. this year. Its release date aside, Warner Bros.’ film cleaves rigorously to the ideal summer movie template: it’s funny and exciting, was made with cutting-edge technology, and balances heart and snark with an acrobat’s finesse.” He continues, “Comparing this year’s top 10 summer films to last year’s reveals a decline in profits of around four per cent. In the United States, the situation is significantly worse, with takings down 15 percent on 2013; the largest year-on-year drop for three decades. Perhaps the unseasonal success of The Lego Movie points towards a future in which seasons dedicated to particular types of film will look increasingly quaint.” Collins isn’t the only one who’s noticed a change. A piece at the San Francisco Gate also talked about the significance of The Lego Movie and other anomalies. “Two of the top movies of the year (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “The Lego Movie“) were released in spring, usually the homely sidekick to summer’s dashing hero,” Collins noted. “And the summer’s biggest hit, Guardians of the Galaxy, wasn’t released until the dog days of August.” “The studios are starting to realize: Let’s take advantage of the soft spots in the calendar,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.” What makes The Lego Movie and The Winter Soldier uniquely interesting is that both films were commercial and critical successes. But they’re also part of a trend that demonstrates legitimate blockbusters being released in Hollywood outside of the summer months. If there was any question as to whether summer begins in May for Hollywood, the original Iron Man made things official in 2008, when it came out on May 2nd and began its journey to half a billion dollars worldwide. And in 2011, Fast Five paved the way for The Winter Soldier by making a killing in April. Then there’s The Hunger Games franchise, which nonchalantly started by taking the Spring by storm, before settling into comfortable November release dates. Speaking of which, the next installment in the series is projected to top the list of the year’s highest-grossing films, along with the conclusion to The Hobbit trilogy. So while the summer of 2014 may have been a disappointing few months for blockbusters, don’t expect the upcoming months to be so strained. For the moment, summer is still king. Avengers: Age of Ultron has a good chance chance at being the highest grossing film of next year, and it’s slotted for that cushy early May release. However, if there’s one film that can top it, it has to be Star Wars: Episode VII, which doesn’t arrive until December. If anything, November and December are becoming the new summer for blockbusters. But if more and more movies keep coming out in months like February and April and putting up summer blockbuster money, all bets are off. And in the end, this isn’t a bad thing for the average moviegoer. Taking the ritual out of it, for Hollywood to expect everyone to spend their money on high-priced tickets every week for four months is a lot to ask. And if they can spread spread their tentpole releases around, knowing that it won’t affect foreign box office, and that Americans will still go see their product, too, why wouldn’t they? Last year, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg predicted the death of the Hollywood blockbuster, presenting a bubble-like situation where major studios would fall after releasing several bad flops in a row. However, if studious are under less pressure to meet a summer deadline, this future could potentially be avoided for a time. That’s not to say the movies themselves will automatically get better, but the blockbuster needn’t die, especially if it can adapt to different seasons. Collins concludes, “In the short term, if Hollywood really is concerned, it might try letting us consume their produce not all at once, in a greasy-lipped binge, but as part of a balanced cultural diet. It worked before 1975. It might just work again now. As ever, Lego lights the way.” Except it’s not just legos. It’s Katniss Everdeen, and Captain America, and all the cool cars from the Fast and Furious franchise. Sure, they could probably thrive in summer. But now we know they can also thrive out of it. Chris Osterndorf is an entertainment reporter and movie critic based in Los Angeles. He holds a degree in cinema from Chicago’s DePaul University. His work has appeared on the Daily Dot, Mic, the Script Lab, Salon, the Week, xoJane, and more.

Today is the 1st of December. Ideally this post should have been written earlier. A lot has already been written, said and promised. I am not going to write anything different. On 26th November, I was at a relatives house for the mehendi ceremony. While someone applied heena on my hands, a phone-call ruined the festive atmosphere. A relative said that there might have been firing at CST. Then someone said there was a blast at Colaba. Mum ran frantically outside to call my dad. His office is just fifteen minutes away from Colaba. Plus he did not have the car that day which meant that he would take the train. When I was told this I shrugged it off. These might be just rumours. Blasts happen all the time plus dad was in Navi Mumbai and the office was shut. People had already panicked. This was around 10 pm. Then we heards of blasts in Parle. Hence the TV was switched. Channel after channel spoke about the hostage situation. The Anti terrorist squad had been summoned. Ok they seemed to say that they would have the situation under control soon. I was ok as dad was safe and none of my friends were in Colaba. We were not allowed to leave the place and hence we stayed the night. But the morning 6:30 am news horrified me. The death toll was already rising. The ATS chief had been killed. There was firing near Metro. Firing at Cafe Leopolds. Hostage situation grim at the Taj and The Trident. Then came the news of the hostages at Nariman house. The young Rabbi and his wife killed. It took the police, the NSG, the marcos and all other security personels three days to flush out the terrorists. The actual body count is still not out. Hundreds of questions are raised which I fear may not not answered as usual. Mumbai has witnessed numerous blasts, riots and bandhs over the years. After each of these incidents everyone talks about the Mumbaikar's spirit. Mumbai is unbreakable and all that jazz. I am a Mumbaikar. I travel by the local, take a bus whenever I can and have practically lived my college life at Colaba. Leos is the one place that everyone parties at or has been there sometime or the other. We all aspire that yes someday we would have lunch/ dinner at Taj. This was one place that was untouched. Yes, we have seen blasts at the Gateway in 2005 but then we overcame it. But I am tired and sometimes feel Mumbai will crumble. Seriously, what is this spirit that everyone talks about? Yes, there was a spirit once which was strong, very strong. But it has been battered and let down so many times that it is almost fading. In a place like Mumbai, do we really have another choice? There were blasts in the train and buses. Even taxis are not safe. What do we do? Stop traveling entirely? I have lovely memories of Leopolds and I am sure many of us do. I was at Leos only last monday. I had an amazing pasta lunch there. Now people we shot at randomly for no reason. Causeway was never shut, always a flurry of activity and lots of people there. The petrol-pump that was blown up was the place where my dad would always park the car when we went to kailash Parbat at Causeway. Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte were shot outside Metro Cinema. I have practically lived there for weeks together at a friend's place next door. It is never going to be the same again. Now that it is all over the government wants to give compensation. Politicians are resigning. We have made a fool of ourselves in front of the world. We have no answers to how and why we could let this happen. And Mumbai is regarded as one of the safest cities in the world. Yahan Pe Sab Chalta Hai! Yes that is why Shivraj Patil, R.R Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Raj Thackeray get away with everything. Only the common man suffers. The middle class quietly plays the increasing tax and goes on with life. The poor is promised this and that but in vain. We have a PM who is older than god knows what! Then there is the BJP Prime Ministerial-candidate who wanted to fly down here. What for? If they cant grieve sitting in their homes at least be swift with decision making. They have jingles to go with their speeches. We want peace but let out soldiers die because they dont have proper arms and facilities. We blame the system but is there any system at all? Are we still going to wait for aother attack as this? Farouk Shaikh clearly stated that we should start preparing for the next attack as we are soon going to forget and move on. The media is another let down. I cannot imagine a senior journalist like Barkha Dutt behaving the way she did. Ok you did manage to give us blow by blow account of what was happening but your cameras also gave away the positions of our soldiers. She kept saying there were secret entrances through which the hostages were being rescued. Was this necessary? Then harassing the already traumatised survivors. Pathetic. To top it all, she asked Shobha De what De felt about Advani and PM taking a common flight? What the F@#$ for? Seriously they were not needed. It only gets dumber. But our government will now award another Padmashree. I think I have gone numb. But I dont want to die and who knows I could be next in some other attack or blast. The terrorists whoever they are dont belong anaywhere. The statement given out by one them is equally questionable. If they were fighting for the rights of the Muslims then how copme they managed to kill so many Muslims? They want an explanation of all the atrocities done to their community in India but they did not ask anyone which religion they belonged to before they shot at them. They are lunatics. I knew some people who died and it is weird. I think we should all stop paying any kind of tax and never vote again. Plus all these politicians should not be given any more securities. If they die, at least we can call them matrys then!

2015 Fall Term - This course listing is informational and does not guarantee availability for registration. - Please click through to view the class schedule to see sections offered for your selected term. - Sections may be full or not open for registration. Please use WINS if you wish to register for a course. An introduction to the reading and writing of college-level prose. Study of short stories, novels and essays. Composition of short papers and essay examinations. Restricted to students with ACT English subscore of 17-29 (SAT verbal 430-699) or completion of English 90. A continuation of English 680-101. Study of plays, poems and essays. Composition of substantial papers and a library research paper. FRESHMAN ENGLISH HONORS An accelerated course in the reading and writing of college-level prose that satisfies the Proficiency writing requirement for students in the University Honors program. Study of the major literary genres, and composition of substantial papers and a library research paper. NOTE -- students will be able to receive AP or other test credit for English 101 and ENGLISH 102, but they may not enroll in English 101 or ENGLISH 102 for credit after completing this course. ADVANCED ACADEMIC READING IN ESL Development of critical thinking skills in reading and ability to express complex, academic arguments for participation in university courses. Students must pass this course with a C- or better to exit the IEP. This course satisfies the English 101 University Proficiency Requirement. COLLEGE WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Students learn the fundamentals of writing an academic research paper. Students conduct a brief literature review, design and conduct a group research project to address a research question, and write a paper. Students must pass this course with a C- or better to exit the IEP. INTRODUCTION TO U.S. CULTURE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS (GH) Study of U.S. culture from interdisciplinary perspectives by examining cultural topics (such as the changing form of the family, educational opportunity, economic change) to come to a deeper understanding of U.S. and the students' home cultures. Students must pass this course with a C- or better to exit the IEP. Prereq: Based on placement criteria, and/or successful completion of previous level of instruction. CONTEMPORARY CHICANO LITERATURE (DV)(GH) Analyzes contemporary Chicano drama, fiction and poetry within their cultural and historical context, examined from a traditional formalist approach and as a human expression. BRITISH LITERATURE SURVEY I (GH) A survey of British literature from the Old English period through the eighteenth century. AMERICAN LITERATURE SURVEY I (GH) A survey of American literature from the seventeenth century through the Civil War to acquaint the student with the foremost writers of our literary culture. FOUNDATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL WRITING AND EDITING Students will be introduced to current practices in and theories behind what makes a good editor and writer and learn to read as editors, paying attention to the details of writing professionally. They will learn the processes of revising, fully correcting, and preparing a manuscript for publication. CLASSICAL MYTH AND LEGEND AS SOURCES FOR LITERATURE (GH) An examination of classical myths and legends and how they are used in various periods and genres of English literature. AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE (GH) Explore American environmental literature (creative non-fiction/fiction/poetry) from its orgins, with special attention to key authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, Leslie Silko, Rachel Carlson, Annie Dillard and Bill McKibben. THE CONTEMPORARY NOVEL (GH) A study of significant British and American novels and novelists of the last decade. MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE OF THE UNITED STATES (DV)(GH) Multicultural Literature of the U.S. offers a wide range of literary texts (dramas, essays, novels, poetry and short stories) by people of color to offer students the opportunity to study and appreciate the experiences and challenges of diverse groups of people in American society: African-American, Asian American, Native American, and Latino/a. This body of literary works will be studied through the historical/political prism of each group so that students will be acquainted with the background of the literature. GENDER IN FILM (GE) Students will learn to critically view, consider, and describe films, with special attention to representations of sexuality and gender. The course will include instruction in gender theory and methods for deploying gender analysis in the context of film studies. CRITICAL WRITING IN THE FIELD OF ENGLISH This course will help students become proficient in the skills of research, organization, writing, and revising that they will need in upper-division English courses. Students will learn both the general conventions of academic writing about literature (literary criticism) and the specific methods of some of the most important kinds of literary criticism. CRITICAL WRITING IN MULTIMEDIA CONTEXTS (GH) In this course, students will learn to conceptualize, structure, and produce analytical writing in multiple forms within digital contexts. Since such contexts are often multi-modal--layered with visual images as well as sound--instruction will include the analysis and appropriation of the visual and auditory in critical writing. CREATIVE WRITING (GH) Study, discussion and writing of description, narration, verse and the short story. INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE STUDY (GH) An introduction to the basic tools and concepts for the study of language through study of the sounds, grammar, vocabulary, history, and cultural context of English. Variable topics. Group activity. Not offered regularly in the curriculum but offered on topics selected on the basis of timeliness, need, and interest, and generally in the format of regularly scheduled Catalog offerings. Repeatable only with change of topic. Analysis and discussion of a cultural, social, moral, philosophical or other significant topic, as expressed in a variety of literary forms, in relation to the individual and society; the particular topic to be published before registration. Repeatable only with change of topic. LITERATURE FOR ADOLESCENTS This course will explore the history and development of adolescent literature, with special emphasis on the period since 1960. Recent novels which have proven popular and influential with young people and teachers will be analyzed using literary and educational criteria. Participants will consider works within the context of intellectual freedom and potential censorship. ASIAN LITERATURES (GH) The course will cover a selection of classical and modern works from various genres and periods in the three national literatures. Each of these works will be discussed both in its literary tradition and in its cultural and historical contexts. The intent will also be to broaden students¿ global perspective by showing connections between their lives and the literatures of other cultures. The course will stress a comparative approach among the three literatures and between each one and Western literatures and cultures. WRITING FOR THE WEB Writing for the Web is designed to survey the many forms of online writing, focusing on community contributions, blogs, Web pages, Wikis and writng for the Web in students' particular academic disciplines. Students will examine each of these forms' conventions, create and contribute to such texts, and reflect upon the cultural significance of those forms. A survey of the major developments in British Literature from 1900 to World War II, with an emphasis on the rise of modernism. THE GRAMMAR OF STANDARD WRITTEN ENGLISH This is a course in the grammar of relatively formal and planned written English. We will review a vocabulary for talking about the structural choices that are available to writers of English, and use this vocabulary to practice analyzing and constructing sentences and parts of sentences. The course is meant primarily for people whose professional plans include writing or editing. AMERICAN LITERATURE IN THE POSTMODERN AGE (1945-PRESENT) This course is designed to acquaint students with the rich tradition of American fiction and poetry of the last fifty years. Focusing on such figures as Ellison, Plath, Morrison, Pynchon, Baraka, and Delillo, this course invites students to debate the role that literature plays in a postwar American society. In doing so, we will focus on how writers address such postwar developments as: dawn of the nuclear age, Vietnam, the rise of mass culture, and rapid technologizing of American society. STYLE: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES Introduction to analysis and revision of texts for their style by a) assessing the rhetorical situations of these texts and b) becoming conversant and widely accepted principles and categories of style. Focus is on stylistic concerns such as clarity, coherence, cohesion, emphasis, concision, shape, and elegance. AMERICAN MINORITY WOMEN WRITERS (DV) A survey of poetry, fiction, drama, and essays written by African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American and Asian-American women. A course in advanced exposition and argumentation. Conventional grade basis only if course is required in the College of Business for major. WRITING IN THE SCIENCES Instruction on the nature of writing in the sciences, including features of scientific genres and strategies for producing effective texts. TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC WRITING Practice in expository, descriptive, and report writing, with special application to technical and scientific subject matter. Practical experience in writing scripts for cinema and/or television, with special emphasis on the creative, theoretical, and critical processes. This workshop introduces students to the history, theory, tradition and practice of creative nonfiction in its many forms, including the edited journal, personal essay and memoir, nature essay, literary journalism, and academic/cultural criticism. Through a mix of seminar-style discussions, graduated writing assignments, and intensive workshop response and revision, students work to develop a substantive portfolio (40-50 pages) of their own work by the end of the semester. SPECIAL TOPICS WRITING WORKSHOP Creative writing workshop, variable topics. A study of the works of Shakespeare which will include representative genres and which will not duplicate works studied in 680-405. ENLIGHTENMENT AND EMPIRE Eighteenth Century British Literature introduces students to literature of all genres written in Britain during the Restoration and eighteenth century. The course should acquaint students with, among others, the historic, philosophic, political and aesthetic principles in this literature to enlighten and interest students, and to develop their critical thinking skills. This is an advanced writing course on the genre of the proposal, pairing students with clients to produce a grant. The course benefits students who will write proposals for their own work as well as students who wish to add the proposal genre to their portfolio of professional writing skills. CURRENT THEORIES OF COMPOSITION FOR TEACHERS A course in theories and methods of teaching composition, including practice in the evaluating of student writing. Recommended for Juniors and Seniors only. CONTROVERSIES IN CRITICISM As the capstone course for English Literature and English Education majors, Controversies in Criticism is a seminar that focuses on a major critical debate. The students will examine a cluster of critical responses to a specific controversy and draw on their knowledge of literature to shed discipline. The specific controversy addressed will vary. Variable credit course offering with a defined topic. Repeatable with a change of topic. Variable topics published prior to registration. APPLIED STUDY: INTERNSHIP IN WRITING Offered on a satisfactory/no credit basis only. Internships, as available, in business or government for suitably prepared students wishing to make careers as writers. Repeatable for a maximum of six credits in degree. Study of a selected topic or topics under the direction of a faculty member. Repeatable. FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH A course for students whose reading and writing skills need improvement through study of basic grammar and rhetoric before they attempt other English courses. This course does not count toward the 120 credits required for graduation, nor does it fulfill General Studies requirements, nor may it be counted toward the English major or minor. It may not be taken by students who are simultaneously taking or have satisfactorily completed another English course on this campus. Required for students with an ACT English subscore of 16 or lower (SAT verbal 429).

VIP sales consultants might be right beside you丨TMTpost Focus 摘要： An excellent sales consultant is the most important foot traffic entrance to offline stores. 【TMTPost Image "Online" section seeks to accurately record those individuals in the era of Internet. TMTPost owns the copyright of all images, texts and videos. Any unauthorized use or reproduction of these documents in any form or means is prohibited. Otherwise, TMTPost reserves right to pursue legal responsibilities.】 Impacted by e-commerce, the retail industry has been seeking transformation, while the role of sales consultants in home appliance stores is also changing. Prior to the Suning May 18 promotion, TMT Online interviewed a VIP sales consultant named Wu Beizhen from Xinjiekou Suning Store in Nanjing. With 13 years of experience in the store, Wu has realized annual sales of 11 million RMB. Unlike other home appliance sales consultants, Wu is involved in sales of other products in the store, and is also responsible for other important work including outside sales. There are over 300 sales consultants in Xinjiekou Suning Store, but only seven of them are VIP sales consultants, which are top sales consultants in offline store, also the important foot traffic entrance. May 13, the May 18 big promotion commercial is being played on the screen in Xinjiekou Suning Store in Nanjing. Known as "Suning Cloud Store 3.0", this marketplace has a home appliance store, a home decoration hall, Suning sports self-service store, a seafood restaurant, Suning Cinema, robot coffee shop and Suning Jiwu imported goods store, being a benchmark store of Suning "smart retail." Wu Beizhen, Suning VIP sales consultant, is recording a video to introduce an air conditioning unit, one of the key products in the big promotion. The video will be displayed on the "Discovery" section of Suning app to attract customers to Xinjiekou store. With her familiarity of the business, Wu smoothly finished the 4 minutes recording after preparing for 5 minutes. Wu discusses work shifts with other two sales consultants. There are over 300 sales consultants in the 5-floor store, and only seven of them are VIP sales consultants including Wu. Unlike other ordinary home appliance sales consultants who are assigned with specific product categories, VIP sales consultants are responsible for whole course customer reception, outside sales and management. Two customers want to buy full set of home appliances for their new home. Wu shows them around and offers a solution package based on their budget and actual demand, and writes down the details of the goods including model names and prices. Early sales consultants used to only take care of their own counters. Several years ago, more and more individual customers began to buy a variety of home appliances, and they tend to look the products at all brands counters to check the prices, spending a lot of time and energy. Therefore, Xinjiekou Suning Store has introduced package sales service, which has evolved into the "VIP sales consultant" position. "Whether the customers place order right away or not, even if they just know the prices and model names, 'VIP sales consultant' would provide meticulous services," Wu says. Customers can make appointments for one-to-one VIP services on Suning.com, and can enjoy the free services under the recommendation of sales consultants in the market. VIP sales consultants provide whole course services for customers in demand, including elaboration of product functions, store promotional activities, as well as extra price discount. VIP sales consultants must be very familiar with the home appliance products in the store, and can customize purchase programs according to customers' actual demands. VIP sales consultants are the most capable sales staff in the store. A repeat customer has made an appointment with Wu to buy a cell phone. When she arrives in the store, Wu shows her around for 30 minutes at the cell phone counters. The customer got to know Wu ten years ago, when she bought electrical appliances with Wu's help for her newly remolded home. Since then, the customer has always come to Wu whenever she needs to buy new electrical appliances, 3C products or consults about home electrical problems. They have become good friends. WeChat group chats of external sales development in Wu's phone. These are known as "precision purchase groups." Outside sales is an important work of Suning VIP sales consultants, and each of them is the foot traffic entrance to the store. In addition to attracting online customers, they also conduct offline customer development in residential communities, real estates, enterprises and public institutions, and exhibitions. They set up team spots in residential communities, organize property owners or employees of enterprises or public institutions to preach and provide free home appliance cleaning services, bringing popularity for offline stores in various ways. Wu is organizing customer list obtained at a home decoration festival. These customers have paid deposit but some of them have not yet come to pick up the goods. She needs to call the customers according to their different situations. Suning has a project called "Messages over Thousand Miles," with which Suning creates customer profiles based on the online and offline data, analyzes users' precise demands, and then make an appointment for purchase through offline sales consultants. For instance, a customer has repeatedly viewed a refrigerator on Suning.com and added it in his shopping cart. After system distribution, a sales consultant would call the customer based on his demands, to recommend and invite them to physical store activities. A VIP sales consultant has to go through multi-dimensional points evaluations of foot traffic, conversion rate, service review, management and sales value, and the number of customers visiting the store through online appointment must reach at least 600 every month, while the customer conversation rate will be evaluated separately. A person-in-charge says that sales consultants get commission based on the invoices they have issued. "If you have helped the customer a lot but the customer finally turns to buy from another sales consultant, it must be your fault. A VIP sales consultant must satisfy customers with good services and enhance customers' loyalty." It is learnt that an elimination mechanism is applicable to the VIP sales consultant. Any sales consultant can apply for the VIP sales consultant position periodically through recommendation, and then become VIP sales consultants after passing a series of examinations. Wu has worked in Suning offline store for 13 years. This is the mug she received when she started to work here. After becoming a VIP sales consultant, Wu can realize annual sales value of about 11 million RMB. She says she enjoys communicating with customers. "I can feel the sense of achievement by answering customers' questions everyday and providing them with various solutions to satisfy them," Wu says. TMTPost Image seeks to accurately record those individuals in the Internet start-up tide. The images are real but cannot tell all. The images are free but also can be a trap. In the era of "online," let's discover more…… The article is edited by @Yi LIU (Email: firstname.lastname@example.org; Mobile/WeChat: +86 13911703028). The Chinese version article is published with authorization from the author @Zack Chen, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.

Directed By Craig Brewer Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci Those of you who read this site regularly know that I’m a big fan of exploitation cinema and 70’s cult cinema. Lately there’s be a resurgence of interest in this sub genre of film and I couldn’t be happier. Black Snake Moan is a fantasy film that seems as though it could have been a part of a double feature on a Saturday night at a drive-in from the 1970’s. Christina Ricci plays Rae, a young white trash woman who has a problem with sex, or well a problem with not having it anyway. Her boyfriend Ronnie, played by Justin Timberlake is headed off for a tour in the military so he can save enough money to get himself and her out of the town they live in, hopefully to Knoxville. Now that’s a real improvement! Rae has apparently been cheating on him the whole time they’ve been together and when he leaves, she kicks into overdrive having sex with a local drug dealer, a random guy at a party, and almost with one of her boyfriend’s buddies. When she insults him he beats her up and throws her out of his truck into the street. The next day Lazarus, an old bluesman turned farmer played by Samuel L. Jackson finds her lying in the street and takes her back to his house to try and fix her up. She’s recovering from a beating and a heavy night of drug use, and also a bad cold. He cleans her face, gets her some meds, and takes care of her for a few days while she comes in and out of consciousness. In town he learns from everybody that his new patient has slept her way back and forth across town since she was in high school. He realizes that this girl isn’t just a slut but that she has a disease and he is the man to cure her. It’s sort of a project for him since he himself is just starting to find himself again after his long term marriage had just come to an end. Lazarus dusts off his old guitar and starts playing again while he waits for Rae to wake up. When she does she discovers a huge chain has been wrapped around her and attached to a radiator. Lazarus tells her he knows about her itch and he’s gonna help her fix herself. She tries to fight it and even offers him sex in exchange for her freedom but Lazarus won’t relent. He tells her, himself, and his preacher friend that he won’t be moved on this. It turns out that Rae and Ronnie are quite the pair. She has her obvious problems but Ronnie seems to be putting up with them because he himself has some mental problems that Rae has been able to help him fix. Rae’s sickness burns inside her and it stems from abuse as a child but now the only thing that fixes it is sex. Ronnie has anxiety that sends him into a panic but Rae’s reassuring touch and voice seem to calm him. These two can’t live separate, they need each other. AS Rae’s treatment continues there are mishaps the worst of which being when a teenage boy comes to visit Lazarus when he’s in town and Rae gives into temptation and has sex with the boy. There are a couple of scenes that are right out of the 70’s high concept drive-in playbook and they are executed fantastically. My favorite of these scenes is when Lazarus plays the song “Black Snake Moan” for Rae as she sits on the floor in front of him in his old house. Thematically both Lazarus’ and Rae’s demons are weighing in on them and they need each other to get through it. As Lazarus plays the song a storm erupts and the lightening and thunder crack and rumble all around them representing these demons and trying to slip in under the doors and through the windows to get them. Rae wraps herself around Lazarus’ leg and begs him to keep playing. The scene is so over the top it just made me smile. The other great scene is Rae’s trial by fire and Lazarus’ return to the man he was, the man he wants to be. He puts his old band together and they put on a rowdy show at a local dive bar with Rae sitting nearby watching. The room is packed with people dancing and drinking and Rae is there dancing to this sultry blues music with men and women all around her. This is definitely a high concept film that you’ll have to sell yourself on pretty quickly to enjoy, and if you do, you’re in for a great time. The acting is top notch, the direction is fairly basic and gritty, as it should be for a film of this type, and the music is phenomenal. My only complaint is that a couple of times within the film archival footage of an old bluesman talking about the blues is cut into the film awkwardly. The man has some interesting things to say about blues music and now I want to see more of this footage, but it completely halted the story for a few minutes. It also feels like a little to modern of a decision for a film that’s otherwise executed in such as retro way. This is a very minor complaint for an otherwise fantastic film. It’s total drive-in from execution to dialogue and its the most fun I’ve had at the movies so far this year. Black Snake Moan is a fairly recent film but at the same time it’s not a big budget affair so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I threw the disc in I was surprisingly blown away by the overall look of the film. It’s world’s above and beyond the previous standard definition DVD release. Colors are outstanding with realistic skin tones being the standout. The colors are purposefully muted with lots browns and dirty white t-shirts and all of it looks phenomenal. Black levels are also solid throughout the film. The detail in the film is also impressive with imperfections in people’s skin and stains on their clothes coming through strong. Grain, compression artifacts, and edge enhancement are all nonexistent. This may be my first pick for a perfect HD-DVD transfer. Again, as with the video, this Dolby Digital-Plus audio presentation completely took me aback. Through most of the film we just get a solid dialogue driven presentation with crisp dialogue well balanced with the score and ambient sound effects. But, things change at various points in the film such as any time Samuel L. Jackson picks up a guitar or when Ricci’s character starts to lose control of herself. IN these instances the sound becomes deep and immersive with great ambient sounds subtly immerging from all the speakers in the soundscape and the music coming through solid with an impressive dynamic level. Of course the sequences featuring archival music and interviews suffer from poor audio and there’s also a few other instances where the quality drops for just a few minutes. Overall though, this film gets a better audio presentation than you’d expect and it’s better than most other similar films hitting HD-DVD so far. Packaging and Bonus Features The single HD-DVD disc comes in a now standard mini amaray case with artwork replicated from the original DVD release. The best bonus feature on the disc is the audio commentary with writer/director Craig Brewer. I’ve spoken with him in person before and he’s one of these directors whose enthusiasm ins catching and that comes through in the commentary. Brewer covers everything from early drafts of the script to Jackson’s guitar training, to Ricci’s performance. There’s plenty of good information here that’ll enhance your appreciation for the film. Conflicted: The Making of Black Snake Moan is a half hour documentary featuring interviews with all the major players contributing interviews and a solid amount of behind the scenes footage. My favorite part of this featurette are the interviews with Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. Other than that there are two very brief short featurettes about the music in the film, a theatrical trailer, some deleted scenes, and a set of production stills. The deleted scenes feature optional audio commentary with writer/director Craig Brewer. All of these extras are simply ported over from the original standard def release. It would have been cool to get some new extras specific to this release but it didn’t happen so we have to be happy with what we get…. I love this film and this is the best it will ever look. It’s shockingly gorgeous and the audio is also strong. The extras, as slim as they are, offer some good information so this is a great buy. Overall (Not an Average) 9/10 The Movie 9/10 The Video 10/10 The Audio 9/10 The Packaging and Bonus Features 7.5/10 Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

George Miller spent a decade and a half working to get the latest installment of his Mad Max series onto the screen. The film was plagued with everything from budgetary problems, to original star Mel Gibson’s personal melt down, to uncharacteristic heavy rains in Australia that forced production to move to Africa. Many people, the director included, thought the project might never make it to theaters. Miller never gave up, though, and Mad Max: Fury Road was worth every minute of the wait. The movie is visually arresting, packed with action and suspense. It’s also just plain bonkers. Neither truly a sequel nor reboot of the franchise, Fury Road is best described as the further tales of ‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky in the post-apocalyptic wastelands. This time out, Max stumbles upon a deranged society that’s presided over by the psychotic Immortan Joe. One of the self-styled god-king’s top lieutenants, Furiosa, is embarking on her latest run for fuel, but she’s decided to escape instead – along with Joe’s five wives, whom he uses to create as many offspring as possible. As far as plot goes, that’s all you really need to know. The bulk of the film consists of a chase: a sprawling, epic, jaw-dropping chase. I use the term ‘jaw-dropping’ literally. The stunt work in Fury Road is inspired. Miller employs computer effects, to be sure, but most of the stunts were done the old-fashioned way. It brought to my mind Quentin Tarantino’s half of 2007’s Grindhouse, called Death Proof. Both Miller and Tarantino understand the visceral quality that using practical stunts evokes. Watching real humans perform these astonishing feats brings an immediacy that is missing in most action blockbusters made today. The sweeping camera work the director uses to capture the action, and the cinematography of the stark desert setting is stunning, almost as stunning as the action itself. Imagine thirty-foot-high poles swinging back and forth like metronomes in order to get a stuntman from one vehicle to another, all driving at apparently dangerous high speeds. Miller used his thirty-plus years of filmmaking experience, and the largest budget he’s probably ever had, to show the superheroes, the alien robots, and the Fast & Furious boys all how it’s done. When the director decided he wanted Fury Road to be an extended chase, he looked to the best examples the movies could offer. He went back to the silent era, and drew inspiration from the likes of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Those masters of cinema knew how to use the uniquely visual qualities of film to create works of art that were wholly original. Miller has done the same thing. He understands the characteristics that separate film from the other arts, and he uses them to their greatest advantage. In addition to all that, Mad Max: Fury Road is also completely unhinged. Stylistically, it’s a throwback to the best work of the Australian New Wave cinema of the 1970s, which includes Miller’s own Mad Max and Road Warrior. The world he imagines is one where people are used as living blood banks for Immortan Joe’s ailing soldiers, known as the War Boys. At the outset of the film, Max is captured and turned into a blood bank for Nux, a War Boy who is so thirsty for battle he hooks Max up to the front of his car – never disconnecting their shared IV – just so he can join the hunt for the gone-rogue Furiosa. British actor Nicholas Hoult – who played 12-year-old Marcus Brewer in About A Boy – portrays Nux. He gives the character a rather touching quality that the writing supports. We get a brief insight into the hellish existence these characters endure when Nux can’t come up with the word ‘tree’ when he sees one. Trees are so rare, people have almost forgotten them. Tom Hardy seamlessly takes up the mantle from Mel Gibson to portray Max. He remains an antihero in the vein of Clint Eastwood’s character from the Man with No Name films. Max speaks in a croak, when he speaks at all, and only shows his humanity as a matter of last resort. Charlize Theron is Furiosa, a warrior who possesses a trait close to extinction in this fallen world: compassion. Her decision to secret away Joe’s five wives to a better life forces Max into a position he’s learned to avoid: helping anyone but himself. The Five Wives don’t say much, but they each have distinct personalities. They aren’t simply archetypes masquerading as characters. Theron displays a level of badassery usually reserved for men in action films, and in a just world her characterization would be the new standard bearer for all future action heroines. Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Max’s first nemesis, the maniacal Toecutter, in the original Mad Max, returns to play new big bad, the driven Immortan Joe. Keays-Byrne owns Fury Road whenever he appears on screen, despite being behind a mask. His driving force – to take back the five wives, what he considers his “property”– fuels the film. His performance is hypnotic, perfectly complementing the world created by Miller. The best reason to recommend Fury Road is also the simplest– it made me feel something. It has a heart, a pulse, and plenty of adrenalin mixed with the gallons of blood pumping through its veins. It achieves Pure Cinema status by telling the story in a way only the language of film can. It’s early in the year, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find Mad Max: Fury Road on my short list for the best movies of 2015.

Photo courtesy of Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Story by Tiffany Brady / MTSU Seigenthaler News Service Late Saturday night in Bonnaroo’s comedy & cinema tent, a viewing of the infamous 2004 production of “Napoleon Dynamite” was shown followed by a personal Q&A with the main star, Jon Heder. The tent filled with diehard fans that spent an ample amount of time roaring with the presentation of their favorite characters and verbatim quoting of the humorous cinematic lines. Once the Q&A began, an in-depth conversation took place between the star and his fans. Multiple microphones were sent around the crowd for fan questions. Heder gave light to the reality of the beloved movie stating, “We were just making a stupid little film — we were the fans quoting the lines after we said them.” Other topics discussed included the famous dancing scene in the movie that was actually “freestyled” by Heder. He also let fans in on the secret inspiration for main character Napoleon and Kip: his and director Jard Hess’ real-life younger brothers. The actor praised the natural, easy undertone of the movie, stating, “There were times the script literally just said ‘do long sigh’ — which he then proved was still just as good as his famous sighs in the movie. With the obvious authentic quality of the movie and its cast, Heder was given tater tots by a loving fan. However, the story didn’t stop there. Heder then prompted an audience member to try to catch the tater tots in their mouth, resulting in him pelting the fan. The conspiracies of a Napoleon Dynamite sequel were debunked, but the fans were not let down due to the fact that Heder went on to make his own sequel storyline that he preached to the crowd. At the end of the night, the people of Bonnaroo left still quoting their favorite lines and Heder left saying, “Tina, you fat lard, eat your dinner!” For more Bonnaroo coverage, click here.

(also state anthem , etc.) is generally a musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions, and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song , or by through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are marches in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East and the Caribbean use a simple fanfare A national anthem is usually in the or most common language of the country, whether de facto , there are notable exceptions. Most commonly, states with more than one may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance: Swiss Psalm, the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four - The national anthem of O Canada, has official lyrics in both English and French, and is frequently sung with a mixture of stanzas, representing the country's - Amhrán na bhFiann, the anthem of the Republic of Ireland, was written in English, but an translation, although never formally adopted, is now almost always sung. - The current national anthem of South Africa is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem (the first stanza is divided between two languages, with each of the remaining three stanzas in a different language). - One of the two official national anthems of God Defend New Zealand, is commonly now sung with the first verse in (Aotearoa) and the second in (God Defend New Zealand). The tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other. - God Bless Fiji has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events. has four official languages, with English being the lingua franca, the national anthem, is in Malay and by law can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite the fact that Malay is a minority language in Singapore. - Pakistan's national anthem is in Persian language which was the cultural and the official language of the Mughal Empire. Pakistanis can understand the anthem as it is considered to be in Persianized Urdu. There is only one word "Ka" which is exclusively from the Urdu language. - There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their anthems. One of these is the Marcha Real, the anthem of Spain. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, but no lyrics were chosen. Other anthems with no words include Inno Nazionale della Repubblica, the anthem of San Marino, and that of of India, "Jana Gana Mana", has lyrics in the Bengali language, despite the fact that India has 22 official languages, with being the first official language and the most widely spoken of them. - Despite the most common language in being English, the anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is sung in the native language of In which is the Welsh Language National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, but some originated much earlier. The oldest national anthem belongs to the and is called the Wilhelmus . It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the , but did not become the official anthem until 1932. In contrast, the music of 's national anthem was composed in 1949, preceding its lyrics, which were written in 1952. God Save the Queen , the national anthem of the and the royal anthem reserved for use in the presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth Realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title God Save the King Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu , the national anthem of , is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom. National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a country's anthem. These usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal. There may also be etc. for special occasions. They are played on and festivals, and have also come to be closely connected with sporting events. Wales were the first country to adopt this, during a rugby game against New Zealand in 1905. Since then during sporting competitions, such as the Olympic Games , the national anthem of the winner is played at each medal ceremony ; also played before games in many sports leagues, since being adopted in baseball during World War II. When teams from two different nations play each other, the anthems of both nations are played, the host nation's anthem being played last. In some countries, the national anthem is played to students each day at the start of school as an exercise in patriotism. In other countries the anthem may be played in a theatre before a play or in a cinema before a movie. Many radio and television stations have adopted this and play the national anthem when they in the morning and again when they sign off at night. For instance, the national anthem of the People's Republic of China is played before the broadcast of evening news on Hong Kong 's local television stations including and ATV Home , it is a law to play the at 6:00 and 18:00 on every public radio and television station, while in Thailand is played at 08:00 and 18:00 nationwide (the Royal Anthem is used for sign-ons and closedowns instead). The use of a national anthem outside of its country, however, is dependent on the international recognition of that country. For instance, the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) has not been recognized by the Olympics as a separate nation since 1979 and must compete as Chinese Taipei National Banner Song is used instead of its national anthem In the Republic of China, the National Anthem is sung before instead of during flag-rising and flag-lowering , followed by the National Banner Song during the actual flag-rising and flag-lowering. Although anthems are used to distinguish states and territories, there are instances of shared anthems. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika became a pan-African liberation anthem and was later adopted as the national anthem of five countries in Africa after independence. Zimbabwe and Namibia have since adopted new national anthems. Since 1997, the South African national anthem has been a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and the former anthem Die Stem van Suid-Afrika Hymn to Liberty is the longest national anthem in the world by length of text. In 1865, the first three stanzas and later the first two officially became the national anthem of Greece and later also that of the Republic of Cyprus is dedicated to Slavic peoples . Its first lyrics were written in 1834 under the title and it has since served as the anthem of the Pan-Slavic movement, the anthem of the Sokol physical education and political movement, the anthem of the SFR Yugoslavia and the transitional anthem of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro . The song is also considered to be the second, unofficial anthem of the Slovaks. Its melody is based on , which has been also the anthem of since 1926, but the Yugoslav variation is much slower and more accentuated. and the United Kingdom , amongst others, are held to be unions of many nations by various definitions. Each of the different nations may have their own national anthem and these songs may be officially recognized. The United Kingdom's national anthem is God Save the Queen but its constituent countries and Crown Dependencies also have their own anthems which have varying degrees of official recognition. England and Northern Ireland , as well as and the Isle of Man , each has a number of anthems which are played at occasions such as sports matches and official events. The song usually used as an anthem for England is God Save the Queen , though sometimes I Vow To Thee, My Country and Land of Hope and Glory may be played instead. Scotland has adopted Flower of Scotland as its unofficial national anthem, while Wales has sung Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau since 1856 when it was written by father and son Evan and James James ; the translation and music were adopted by as its national anthem. Hen Wlad fy Nhadau was sometimes accompanied by the hymn, Guide Me, O thou Great Redeemer , especially at rugby matches. Northern Ireland has used God Save the Queen though Londonderry Air is also used. , the situation is similar to that in Germany. The anthem of (chant of the homeland), is notable in the way that it is the only (official) German-language anthem written – and sung – entirely in dialect. , after the national anthem was established in 1854, most of the states of the federation adopted local anthems, which often emphasize heroes, virtues or particular landscapes. All the individual states of have local anthems. Most of the best-known national anthems were written by little-known or unknown composers such as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle , composer of and John Stafford Smith who wrote the tune for The Anacreontic Song , which became the tune for The Star-Spangled Banner . The author of God Save the Queen , one of the oldest and well known anthems in the world, is unknown and disputed. Other countries had their anthems composed by locally important people. This is the case for lyrics were written by former president and poet Rafael Nuñez , who also wrote the country's first constitution. While most national anthems are in the standard , there are a number of notable exceptions. For example, these anthems are in the And these anthems have unique modes/modulations: Els himnes nacionals. Published February 2012. "Spain: Lost for words - The Economist". The Economist. Retrieved M. de Bruin, "Het Wilhelmus tijdens de Republiek", in: L.P. Grijp (ed.), Nationale hymnen. Het Wilhelmus en zijn buren. Volkskundig bulletin 24 (1998), p. 16-42, 199–200; esp. p. 28 n. 65. Japan Policy Research Institute JPRI Working Paper No. 79. The Indian National anthem Jana Gana Mana was transcribed from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore. Published July 2001. Retrieved 7 July 2007 Nadeem F. Paracha. "Saghar Siddiqui: A man, his demons and his dog". Retrieved "Musical traditions in sports". "Identity: Nationalism confronts a desire to be different". Financial Times. Retrieved Foul cried over Taiwan anthem at hoop tourney. Published 6 August 2007 "Greece – Hymn to Liberty". NationalAnthems.me. Retrieved Understanding our national anthem, FIRST Magazine, 2012 "Estonia – Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm". NationalAnthems.me. Retrieved Mazurek Dąbrowskiego & Hej Slaveni. YouTube. 2 March 2011. Retrieved Translates from German as The Song of the Germans Translates from German as God save Emperor Francis Государственный гимн СССР; transliterated as Gosudarstvenniy Gimn SSSR Russia's State Symbols. RIA Novosti. 7 June 2007. Retrieved Zolotov, Andrei (1 December 2000). "Russian Orthodox Church Approves as Putin Decides to Sing to a Soviet Tune". Christianity Today Magazine. Christianity Today International. Retrieved Johnson, H. (2015). MEDIANZ, 15(1), 96-118.. A musical call to action: ‘Lullaby: The UNICEF Anthem’ UNICEF Website, 19 November 2009 Indian poet-diplomat pens S.Asian anthem after Earth anthem success ANI, 27 November 2013 UNESCO finds Indian poet-diplomat's idea of an Earth Anthem inspiring Business Standard, 27 February 2014

Sex Wars Revisited An early platform for lesbian photography, On Our Backs was instrumental in shaping a culture of desire. By Laura Guy “For years we as lesbian-feminists have been fighting male pornography,” a reader named Donna from Washington, D.C., wrote. “It shocks and abhors me to find that women have stooped to the same methods.” To scan the letters pages of the San Francisco–based magazine On Our Backs, published from 1984 to 2005, is to find lesbian erotica thrown into relief against the backdrop of the feminist sex wars. Antagonisms that characterized the movement in the 1980s play out in an epistolary exchange, and through the rancor, a contrasting story emerges. “How different—bold—and wonderful to see (for my first time) women enjoying women,” another reader commented. “It makes me remember that I’m not alone in my thoughts, although fairly secluded in South Carolina,” says another. One reader gets right to the point: “A splendid aid to masturbation! Thanks!” Nestled among these letters are whetted appetites and desires unmet, a request for clarification on attraction between butches, a note about racial integration in the San Francisco leather scene, even a complaint about proofreading errors. A field of lesbian desire appears, one that was contested, shared, and shaped by contributors and readers alike. The publication emerged at a juncture in feminist history known as the sex wars, a time of high-octane tensions between “pro-sex” and “anti-pornography” feminists. The two terms obscure the complexity of these debates yet gesture toward a stark ideological rift. To summarize, pro-sex feminists sought new languages for female desire. Feminist anti-pornography groups, such as Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media and Women Against Pornography, campaigned for increased legal sanctions on the production and circulation of pornographic material. Photography figured predominantly in this debate, both as a catalyst for antagonism and a means by which feminist affinities might be established and fantasies explored. In the context of these fraught and painful divisions, On Our Backs contributed to a burgeoning media through which images of lesbian sexuality were constructed and disseminated, lusted after and spurned. The magazine was an early platform for lesbian sex photography. Along with the Boston-based Bad Attitude, it carved out a space for others to emerge (Outrageous Women, Wicked Women, Quim, and Lezzie Smut, to name a few international examples that followed). In its first decade, On Our Backs was instrumental in shaping a culture organized around lesbian desire. The first editorial, written by Debi Sundahl and Myrna Elana, cofounding editor and publisher, respectively, introduces On Our Backs as an “offering” to the community with the aim of “sexual freedom, respect and empowerment for lesbians.” There were many who worked to realize this goal. Susie Bright, then the manager of Good Vibrations, a San Francisco shop selling sex toys for women, oversaw six years as editor in chief. Starting out as something of a sexual agony aunt, she wrote an advice column that became a trademark of the magazine. Nan Kinney, another founding editor, went to develop Fatale Media, a producer of lesbian erotica videos that by the end of the 1980s was the largest of its kind. Alongside essays, poetry, and graphic art, photography was key to realizing the ambitions of the magazine, and On Our Backs was shaped around a culture of image makers. Its smart black-and-white aesthetic was defined by photographers such as Honey Lee Cottrell, Tee Corinne, Morgan Gwenwald, Jill Posener, Leon Mostovoy, and Katie Niles. Photography stories, reportage, constructed scenes, and advertising images mixed with informative articles, erotic fiction, and, importantly, personals. Later, people like Lulu Belliveau and Phyllis Christopher would be instrumental in developing an ever more stylish visual language that continued to challenge the paucity of available images of lesbians in mainstream culture. There are perhaps two intertwined genealogies here. One is within histories of feminism, the other within those of homosexual culture. As often happens in politics, the sex wars played out as a dispute not only between opposing factions but also different generations. This division caricatured second-wave lesbian feminism as desexualizing lesbian identity in favor of a political definition (“Any woman can be a lesbian,” sang lesbian separatist folk musician Alix Dobkin in 1974). Riffing on the politics of the 1970s, if not antagonistically, then at least with irreverence, On Our Backs appropriated their title from off our backs, a well-known feminist newspaper with roots in the women’s liberation movement. A series of images that Christopher produced for On Our Backs in 1992 announced a fetish for flannel. Christopher admits—with, one suspects, tongue firmly in cheek—to having suppressed her desire for the unfashionable check until seeing a documentary about Olivia Records, a record label synonymous with 1970s lesbian feminism. Getting off on history indicates a less complete break with the past than the idea of feminist waves first implied. On Our Backs also looked back to public sex cultures that emerged in the wake of gay liberation. Many photographers whose work appeared in the magazine subverted the visual language of the male-dominated BDSM community. Gwenwald’s fetish pictures, including a piece of lace reminiscent of a handkerchief or panties folded into a back pocket, offer a wry counterpoint to Hal Fischer’s record of homosexual dress codes collected in his book Gay Semiotics (1977). Christopher acknowledges the formal influence of Robert Mapplethorpe on her approach to visualizing lesbian sex and desire. But, however exciting it might be to consider this subversion of gay male culture, references to canonical figures like Mapplethorpe should not obscure the radical project pursued by Christopher, Gwenwald, and their colleagues. As the AIDS crisis took hold in the United States and elsewhere, the imperative to create publicly visible representations of queer sex became ever more vital. In the context of political disempowerment and medical crisis, lesbian sex photography would take on increasing political charge, as the magazine provided an essential platform for lesbian creativity during a regime of state censorship enacted during the period of the culture wars in the United States. Circulating in unmarked envelopes, On Our Backs networked lesbians internationally. An exchange took place between photographers in the U.S. and the U.K., where figures like Del LaGrace Volcano, Tessa Boffin, and Jean Fraser foregrounded lesbian identity within the theories of representation emerging out of schools such as the Polytechnic of Central London. If this was photography in the service of pleasure, it was also photography in the service of history. To engage in documenting lesbian sex in the 1980s was to advance the historically necessary claims of feminism and gay liberation into the public sphere. For example, Mostovoy’s images of lesbian sex workers at San Francisco’s Market Street Cinema might be viewed as part of a broader reworking of documentary practice in the 1980s, tied to the emergent debates around the politics of representation. Yet many lesbian practitioners regarded documentary with suspicion. Instead, pornography, which is peculiarly structured by both arch realism and pure fantasy, provided a space where the pathologization of lesbian sexuality could be resisted. For its ubiquity, its obscenity, perhaps even the material conditions of its production, pornography is a particularly degraded kind of image making in histories of photography, removed from the value systems of the academy as well as those of the art world. A collective project like a magazine is bound to be fraught with internal struggles, and from the outset On Our Backs lived with a degree of financial precarity that would lead to both a hiatus and change in management in the mid-1990s. The difficulty of running the publication was compounded by the mounting restrictions on queer spaces as moral hysteria surrounding the AIDS crisis intersected with pernicious gentrification in San Francisco, which had a homogenizing effect on the city. Revisiting this era through the pages of the magazine allows a different set of possibilities relating to queer identity to emerge. On Our Backs is but one chapter in a rich history that also includes the work of Cathy Cade, Ruth Mountaingrove, Corinne, and Volcano, whose vital contributions to queer photography began in the lesbian bars of San Francisco in the early 1980s. Trans or intersex-identified photographers like Volcano and Mostovoy started in the dyke scene alongside writers like Patrick Califia, known for his groundbreaking writing on BDSM subcultures and trans politics. Held within lesbian sex cultures of the 1980s are the kernels of the ongoing struggles for recognition—of trans folk, sex workers, fat activists—that continue to unsettle feminism today. At times it seems the magazine presents us with a lesbian feminist history of queer photography; at others, a queer history of lesbian feminist photography. Perhaps instead, the diverse record of lesbian desire produced through the photographs in On Our Backs shows us that the two are yoked together, far harder to separate than existing histories might have us believe. Laura Guy is a writer based in Glasgow, U.K., where she is Lecturer in Art Context and Theory at the Glasgow School of Art.

Death of the projectionist and the rise of McCinema Since I can remember I’ve been in love with film, I’ve worked in video stores and watched so many films that I can’t even remember how many I’ve watched. Since a year I’ve been working at one of the oldest and smallest art-house cinemas in Amsterdam: Filmtheater de Uitkijk. This tiny cinema at the Prinsengracht is run by a small group of students and they are in charge of everything. The cinema breaths a French avant-garde look and has 86 seats, including a cosy service balcony. Next year Filmtheater de Uitkijk will celebrate it’s 100-year anniversary and this calls for a celebration! But I doubt that celebrating is the right word here. Although we will celebrate 100 years of film, we will also mourn the death of something or rather someone who we love dearly. Someone who has always been there but who remains hidden behind a small window in the back of the room. Someone who is always watching, adjusting and constantly checking, so the moviegoers have the perfect film experience. Some call him the bassist of the cinema: quiet, mysterious but indispensable: the projectionist. In the Netherlands there is a state funded project called Cinema Digitaal (Cinema Digital) where smaller cinema have the opportunity to replace their old 35 mm projectors with state of the art digital projectors. It is a huge operation and almost all the cinemas in the Netherlands participate. With this new digital projector it is possible for smaller cinemas to buy bigger films, play 3D and even play football games and operas from across the world. The manufacturers and the film distributors push this digital revolution to the max and if you don’t participate you are simply left behind. Last week I received a letter from one of the leading digital projector manufacturers saying: “Our projector will give your cinema the freedom to give your audience what they want!” really…..? In the Oscar winning film Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore tells the story of an old projectionist named Alfredo, who teaches his nephew Salvatore the art of the projectionist. Unfortunately the cinema burns down and Alfredo is blinded by the accident. Salvatore becomes a director and after many years he returns to his village for Alfredo’s funeral. Alfredo has left Salvatore with a film canister containing all the love scenes from all the films the local church didn’t approve off over the years, showing us that cinematic love never dies. Unfortunately it does. The Pathé multiplexes in Amsterdam have around 8500 seats and more than 40 screens. Only one central control room automatically runs all the films in digital format on these screens. With just a press on the button the lights will go down and the film starts on all the screens. This means the end of the projectionist because in a few years they are not needed anymore. Dutch film journalist Thomas Leeflang compares this situation with the rise of the sound film in 1927. Back then cinema orchestras played live music during the film. Critics thought that the audiences would never enjoy non-live music but after a few years nearly all the orchestras were gone. Nowadays few people can tell the difference between digital film and 35 mm. Together with the rise of digital cinema, there has been another interesting development in cinemas. The introduction of the unlimited pass, with these passes moviegoers can see as many films as they want for a fixed price of 17 euro each month. I can’t help seeing a parallel with the big fast food chains, let me explain. When you enter a multiplex like Pathé Arena you get your ticket, and move (if you want to or not) past the popcorn, beverages and chocolate. You then watch the film and exit through another hall where you have the choice to leave the cinema or get in line for another film. There is no room to sit and talk about the film you just saw. It is designed just like a fast food restaurant to serve the customer and to make room for the next one as soon as possible. Considering this it’s hard to believe that the projector manufacturer is telling the truth when they say: Our projector will give your cinema the freedom to give your audience what they want!” But what does the audience want? More Green Lantern, more Sex and the City, more Bayham? Luckily for moviegoers in Amsterdam there is a healthy group of cinemas promoting quality films and I hope people will still find their way to these cinemas in the coming years. In a few years these cinemas will also only be able to show film in a digital format and the old 35 mm projectors will be gone. The digital age has given us so much and made our lives so much easier but sometimes this doesn’t have to be a good thing. I do think that the digitization of cinemas is a development that could be very beneficial for art-house cinemas, I just mourn the death of somebody I hold very dear and who symbolizes the mystique cinema and film have. So next time you are in a cinema ask an employee if you could speak to the projectionist maybe he can give you a tour. I would love to let you see what film really feels and smells like. A small documentary about projectionists in Amsterdam (in Dutch)

Sandman, Smackdowns and Elf Love with Uber Artist Duncan Eagleson This week we return to the Promised Land − good ‘ol comics. We drifted away to film and music for a few interviews but now we’re back where we belong. And our “comeback to comics” is sure to make a splash. As big a splash, we dare say, as WWE wrestler Kane’s return in December 2011 when he beat down John Cena and revealed not one − but two leather masks. He’s none other than Duncan Eagleson. I’ve been fortunate to have Duncan involved in a few anthologies I’ve worked on and recently begged/pleaded/cried to have him create some key art for my upcoming micro-budget feature BLESSID. As usual, he exceeded expectations. You see, Duncan Eagleson is a perfectionist. As such, I am going to use his words rather than my own to describe his accomplishments: “Illustrator, graphic designer, painter and sculptor, Duncan Eagleson has created art and designs for book covers, movie posters, advertisements, corporate identity projects, videos, magazines, and even T-shirts, for clients such as Doubleday Books, Tor Books, New Line Cinema, Warner Communications & DC Comics, rock groups like The Who, Phil Collins, and Def Leppard. In comics, he contributed art to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, adapted and illustrated Anne Rices’ The Witching Hour. He has created sculpted leather masks for Wes Craven’s Cursed, the WWE wrestler Kane, the Smithsonian, the Big Apple Circus, and magician Jeff McBride. Portfolios of his work, both digital and traditional, can be found at eaglesondesign.com, and on his Deviant Art page at duncan-eagleson.deviantart.com. His sculpture and masks can be seen at maskmaker.com.” 1) You have a long and impressive resume, but one thing that jumps off the page is your work on issue #38 of The Sandman — “Convergence, The Hunt” (1992, DC/Vertigo). What was it like working with writer-savant Neil Gaiman? (DUNCAN:) Top question everybody asks. I’m happy to be able to say that honestly, it was really great. Neil had certain elements he really wanted the art to reflect − mainly the nine-panel grid structure for the pages − and he was quite patient about explaining why that was important (he wanted the physical structure of the pages to reflect the formal story structure of the “fairy tale” sort of story). Beyond that, he was very hands-off, trusting me to do what I wanted with the art. Neil really is the way he appears in interviews and public appearances: a very unassuming, courteous gentleman, and very easy to work with. The only minor bump in an otherwise utterly smooth ride had nothing to do with Neil. Some of the powers that be at DC/Vertigo felt the “werewolf sex” scene toward the end of the book was too graphic − despite the fact there were no actual naughty bits showing, I guess it was a bit too obvious what was going on. So I had to tone it down for publication. We went through a couple of versions before they were satisfied that it was family-friendly enough. Which was okay with me − I wasn’t about to scream “Censorship!” or anything. It was DC/Vertigo’s book, they were paying for it, they should get the sort of product they need. To me, it was no different than any other revision. I did, however, save the original pencilled panels. All in all, the whole thing was a great experience, including, by the way, seeing my pencils come to life through Vince Locke’s brilliant inking. It was almost as if Vince was in my head, doing exactly the inking I would have done myself, if only I’d had the sort of mad inking skills he has. 2) Around the same time you did Sandman you also worked wrote and did art for several issues of Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour comic book series. What was this experience like? (DUNCAN:) That was a bit of a mixed bag, especially toward the end. It started out looking great − they came to me at first for the art, and they didn’t have a writer. I had just recently read The Witching Hour, and I was wanting to start building a name as a writer, so I convinced them to let me script as well. Between scripting and illustrating, I had no time to get involved in the marketing, but I probably should have tried. They were marketing the book to comics venues, treating it as if it were a superhero book, which wasn’t the best choice. The Anne Rice audience was huge − but they’re not your typical superhero comics audience. As it was, I think we got some respect from folks in the industry − the one time I met Kelly Jones, he was kind enough to say he thought The Witching Hour was the best full painted book on the market at the time − but the sales of the first couple of issues were disappointing. To be fair to Millennium, novel adaptations are always a hard sell in comics, and traditionally don’t do very well. And although I think The Witching Hour might eventually have found its audience, they just didn’t have the kind of funding to hold the line until that happened, they needed to make money off the book right now. And that wasn’t happening. So the book got cancelled, and shortly thereafter, the company went belly-up. As an artist & storyteller, however, I had a great time doing it. I unleashed everything I had learned about drawing and painting and visual storytelling on that series. At the time, my idol in comics was Bill Sienkiewicz. That man’s full-painted comics art was some of the most inspiring, innovative, and masterful work I’d seen in years, with the possible exception of Dave McKean. Considering how extreme he got with some of that work, it’s amazing to realize that he always managed to keep it in the service of the story, never let it become all about the art. No matter how stunning any individual page or panel was, he designed it to keep you caught up in the characters and the narrative, moving forward through the story. That’s not easy to do when you’re also pushing the boundaries of what has been done visually in a medium. I tried hard not to imitate Sienkiewicz − or Bernie Fuchs, or Bob Peak, who I was also looking at a lot in those days − but to use their examples as an inspiration, to adopt a similar conceptual approach without also adopting anyone’s specific signature devices. And I think I mostly succeeded, giving the book a unique look and feel. This was in the days before the use of Photoshop had become common, and I was doing a lot with Xeroxing drawings and photos onto colored paper, and painting over them with gouache, acrylics, airbrush, and pastel pencils. At one point, my editor, Jordan Bojar, called me up and said “I don’t know how you created this, what kind of techniques you’re using, but whatever they are, don’t ever reveal them to anyone.” Of course, I said “Why not?” I’m always happy to share whatever I’ve learned with someone who wants to know. “Because this is unique, these techniques are a gold mine,” he said. I thought he was nuts. Far as I’m concerned, anyone who wants to try out these techniques, knock yourself out. If you’re a mediocre artist looking for a gimmick, you’ll produce a cheap knockoff. If you’ve got imagination, and are good at what you do already, you’ll do something else with it, use it to develop your own unique creation. Why would I feel threatened by either possibility? A cheap knockoff will almost always be seen for what it is, and an imaginative, unique creation deserves to succeed, and be cheered on. 3) Did you ever get to meet the “Queen of Vampires”? (DUNCAN:) I never did. She seemed to keep a certain distance from the comics versions of her works − or at least Millennium’s comics versions, which included The Mummy as well as The Witching Hour. I did talk to her personal assistant once. Long after The Witching Hour and Millennium had both tanked, I heard that the comics rights to Anne Rice’s books had reverted to her, and she had announced her intention to do her own graphic novel versions of all her books. I had always felt I’d love to finish the series, so I called her office to see if they were interested in my working with them. Her assistant was very polite and cordial, but also very non commital, and the basic message was “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” And of course, they never did. As far as I know, they eventually abandoned the whole graphic novel idea. 4) More recently, you were involved with another Pop icon. You created two leather masks for WWE wrestler Kane’s “resurrection” when he intruded on a matched and rudely slammed John Cena to the mat. How did you get involved in the melee? (DUNCAN:) People who know my work from comics and book covers may not be aware that I’ve been making sculpted leather masks for many years. I’ve made masks for many theater productions, for the Big Apple Circus, for mask magician Jeff McBride (a long-time friend), for Wes Craven’s movie Cursed, and even for the Smithsonian. If you Google “leather masks,” my mask website (maskmaker.com) usually turns up in the first few results. Which is how the Creative Director from the WWE found me. I went and met with the creative director and production designer, and of course, Kane himself. They already had certain ideas about what they wanted the masks to look like, but were willing to listen to my input, as well. I sat down with Kane and talked with him about his previous masks, about what worked well, and what didn’t, and how we could improve on what he’s had before. In the end, I made two masks, the red inner mask, and a sort of over-mask that looks a little like a welder’s mask. 5) Another notable piece is Hollow which you worked on for Archaia Studios Press. The pages on your website have a definite “extraterrestrial” vibe. Can you explain the storyline since you did the pencils and ink for issue 1 in 2010? (DUNCAN:) The writer on the Hollow was a very talented young man named Larime Taylor. I had worked with Larime before, providing masks for a play he wrote and directed, Call of the Dragon. When he came up with Hollow a few years later, he got back in touch, asked me if I’d be willing to pencil and ink issue one. Those creatures that look rather like extraterrestrials are actually the beings who conduct dead souls into the light or the darkness. They’re also the beings responsible for placing souls into babies. And they’re all upset because one got missed − there was a child born without a soul. Both the dark and the light are hunting for this soul-less child, who in the meantime has grown up, and is about to come of age, which redoubles the urgency with which the agents of Light and Dark are searching for him/her/it. 6) My favorite Duncan Eagleson work is Railwalker: Tales of the Urban Shaman. (DUNCAN:) Thanks very much. 6.1) Explain the premise to our readers. What are your plans for the series? (DUNCAN:) The premise behind Railwalker was the idea of a genuine urban shaman. This guy (who we know only by his street name, Brick) has no cultural tradition behind him, no elder indigenous shaman he apprenticed to − he was just a guy from the streets of Brooklyn, a graffiti writer, who one day found the crows started talking to him, and teaching him things. He had no idea, at least in the beginning, that what the crows were teaching him is what anthropologists would call magic and shamanism. Brick actually started out as a supporting character in a graphic novel I was trying to sell back in the 80s. In the 90s, the Earthspirit Community approached me about doing a comics series that would tie in to their Rites of Spring Festival (they had in mind either a single-panel, or a four-panel strip format), and I thought Brick would be the perfect protagonist − he’s a total outsider to modern magic and neo-paganism, but he’s an intelligent and sympathetic outsider. When I started the series, I was thinking in terms of humorous strip comics, and was working in a kind of cartoony style. But I’ve never really thought of myself as a humorist, and the humor in Railwaker at Rites is generally not a broad laugh-out-loud kind of humor, but more wry and dry. So as the series went on, I gradually started transitioning the look of the art to a more sophisticated realistic style, which seemed more appropriate to the material I was writing. People seemed to like it, so I kept it up. The strip ran for three festival seasons, and after it ended, I set up a web site specifically for Railwalker. Not long afterward, I started experimenting with animation in Flash. Over the course of the next couple of years, I created a short animated Railwalker movie, Keys, in several chapters. Keys tells one version of how Brick became the Railwalker (yes, there are others). I had toyed with the idea of doing another short animation based on Beowulf (this was long before the Avary/Gaiman CG film version), but I was going to set it in a post-apocalyptic world, with a Mad Max type character as the hero. As I worked on the script, it started to morph and change and grow, and one day I thought, “Screw the animation, this wants to be a novel.” So the Mad Max-like character became one of an order of traveling Warrior-Shamans, and what better to call his order than the Railwalkers? Which told me that after the Great Crash, Brick must have founded an organization to battle the chaos and monsters that appeared in the Crash’s wake, right? Since the Beowulf poem is in one sense a paean to the passing days of the great heroes, to be true to the flavor of the thing, my tale would have to happen during the final years of the Order, when they’re in their decline. So we’re 300 years after the Great Crash. (“Harkinton,” the short story I did for the 2012: Final Prayer anthology, tells a tale of Alec Bane, one of the “Five Ravens” who formed the first generation of Brick’s Railwalker Order.) With the working title of Wolf, the novel that resulted was something like Beowulf as a post-post-apocalyptic noir occult thriller. If that makes any sense. I didn’t really set out to blend, or transcend, or mashup all that many genres, but that’s the way the story developed. Of course, in allowing myself the freedom to do that, I probably hurt my chances of being picked up by a mainstream publisher. Those folks need to be able to neatly categorize and pigeonhole their product, and this novel would be tough to do that with. How do you market something like that? I wasn’t thinking about marketing the thing until after it was written. However, it’s been picked up now by one of the small presses, and should be out within the year. As a result of that novel, I had a whole history of this order to come up with (at least in broad outline), not only in the formal organization created by Brick, but also in its roots, the many individual Railwalkers who had existed through history before Brick. Railwalker lore tells of a depression-era hobo, a traveling bluesman in the 1920s, an aristocratic Englishwoman of the Victorian period… but the Railwalkers seem to appear only after the Industrial Revolution. Which has to do, I’m sure, with their being particularly urban shamans. I have two books of an urban fantasy series done, and a third in progress. They don’t involve Brick or the Railwalkers. At least not yet. But they will tie into the Railwalker universe timeline, and end in the Great Crash. I also have some notes and sketches for what would be, not exactly a sequel to Wolf, but a story set around the same time and place, with a few overlapping characters, but no direct connection to the events of Wolf. But that’s an embryonic project, so don’t hold me to that − the thing could still evolve in a different direction. 7) You’ve done some short graphic works as well. Recently, you did pencils and ink for some work that appeared in Elf Love (Pink Narcissus). I had the pleasure of doing a review of this great fantasy anthology. Tell us about your work and the anthology. (DUNCAN:) Thanks, glad you liked the anthology, and thanks for the good review. A friend sent me the call for short story submissions for this anthology. At first, I wasn’t very interested − I didn’t think I had anything to say about elves, particularly elves and love. But the idea got under my skin, and a few days later, I had not one, but two story ideas. I wrote them both up, submitted them, and to my surprise, they accepted them both. Then I got a phone call from the Pink Narcissus Editor-in-Chief, Rose Mambert, saying, “Hey, you’re an artist, too, right? Would you be interested in doing the cover for this book?” Long story short, I not only did the cover, but continue to do graphic design and occasionally illustration for them. Oh, but you asked about “Of Roots and Rings”, the comics story in that anthology… I belong to a writer’s group, and one of my friends there, Sarah Eaton, is a terrific playwright. When she learned about Elf Love, she was intrigued, and had a story in mind for it. But she had never done a text story, had only ever previously written scripts. So I said, “Well, write it up as a script, and I’ll see if Rose is willing to have me illustrate it as a comics story.” When I broached the idea to Rose, she was delighted, said they’d love to include a comics story in the anthology. “Of Roots and Rings” was great fun to illustrate. Especially since the historical material that appears toward the end gave me a chance to revisit the historical montage look I’d been using for certain sequences back when I was doing The Witching Hour. I love doing that stuff, it’s almost like a comics story within the comics story. 8) Which is your greatest passion: writing, drawing, painting or mask-making? (DUNCAN:) Storytelling, in whatever form. Everything I do, even making masks, is in some sense a form of storytelling. I think that the desire, the need, to tell stories is the creative engine that drives all artists, even the ones who think they’ve transcended the narrative urge. They’re still trying to communicate, to say something, and that something has a context, a story, which they can’t avoid invoking or referring to in some way, even if only obliquely. It’s all about The Story. 9) What writer and artist makes you go, “Damn, how did they put that much talent in one person?” (DUNCAN:) You mean someone who writes AND illustrates? Well, Eisner, of course, he’s the grand old man of writer/artists. Howard Chaykin − I think one of the finest science fiction comics series ever created was Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! Brilliant work by a brilliant artist/writer. Mike Mignola consistently amazes me, his visual storytelling is superb. Frank Miller, Matthew Dow Smith, Sam Keith, Dave Sim, Phil Foglio, Matt Wagner… I could go on, but those are the top names that spring to mind right now. 10. What’s next for you? (DUNCAN:) I’m off to Necon July 19-22, then it’s back in the studio for a while. I’ve done a lot of events the last few months, showing masks and art, plugging my writing, and I need some uninterrupted time to get some new work done. There are covers to be done for Pink Narc books, and Wolf will be going through the editing process. I’ve just finished a steampunk novel in collaboration with Rev DiCerto − we’re now giving it the last once-over and final polish before we submit it. I’m working on another novel of my own, in a different, darker genre. I’m also preparing a proposal-slash-presentation on an illustrated novel, in which a depression era carnival encounters the local Fae in an obscure hamlet in the backwoods of New York State. The story is loosely tied into the mythology of the New York Faerie Festival. If you wanted to get all “high concept” about it you could call it Gaiman’s Stardust meets HBO’s Carnivale. Watch for the Kickstarter campaign, hopefully mounting this fall. Also, I can’t talk details yet, but just this morning I was invited to participate in a new anthology where the rest of the authors are mostly famous science fiction writers. No pressure, or anything, right? It’s a great opportunity, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of living up to the standards of that august company. 11) Big finish − where can people go to see your work and buy your comics, masks and other creative endeavors? Prints are available both at the Deviant Art page and at my Zazzle Store. Masks and sculptures are on maskmaker.com. Some of my short fiction appears in two anthologies from Pink Narcissus Press, Elf Love and Rapunzel’s Daughters, and I’ve done covers for their Bleeding Hearts and Feasting with Panthers, terrific novels both. Thanks Duncan. May the Muse be a crow on your shoulder and ever whispering in your ear. An award-winning indie comic creator and screenwriter, Bob Heske wrote THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST. This graphic novel hit stores on July 5th at a price point of only $12.99. Order your copy at your local comic shop today – tell them the Diamond code is MAR121187! It can also be ordered on Kindle and on Amazon. Bob has also published COLD BLOODED CHILLERS, the award-winning anthology BONE CHILLER and his end times tome 2012: FINAL PRAYER. BONE CHILLER and 2012: FINAL PRAYER are also available on Amazon Currently, Bob is making his family nervous by investing his time and money on an incredible micro-budget film called “Blessid”. “LIKE” it on Facebook. Bob’s website is www.coldbloodedchillers.com.

1/25/2016 · Mix - Luke Christopher - Lot to Learn YouTube 50+ videos Play all Pop Hotlist YouTube benny blanco, Halsey & Khalid – Eastside (official video) - Duration: 2:55. 9/14/2014 · Category People & Blogs; Suggested by SME Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls (Official Music Video) Song Stand By Me (US) Artist Ben E King 1/6/2015 · Lot to Learn Lyrics: If I was the question, would you be my answer? / If I was the music, would you be the dancer? / If I was the student, would you be the teacher? / If I was the sinner, would you be 9/12/2018 · Learning techniques and going through a step by step curriculum like the Core Learning System is really great but sometimes it’s especially helpful to step out of the routine and tackle some songs. Thankfully, Guitar Tricks has tons of songs to learn from, ranging from classics like The Beatles and The Eagles, to contemporary artists like Rihanna, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Kings of Leon. Learn how to play guitar with the best free online guitar lessons available. For both beginner guitar and advanced, our 11,000 video lessons will have you playing easy guitar songs in no time! Learn guitar chords, how to change chords quickly, and guitar exercises perfect for both electric and acoustic guitar. Folk music includes traditional folk music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th-century folk revival.Some types of folk music may be called world music.Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers, or music performed by custom over a long period of time. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. 8/14/2017 · Lyrics to 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platten: Like a small boat on the ocean Sending big waves into motion Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might 7/30/2018 · There's one baseball song that everybody knows, a few others that many people know, and a lot of other great songs about the national pastime that you might never have heard. Here's a countdown of the greatest baseball songs of all time, with links so that you can sing along. Popular, famous, and ubiquitous chord progressions and the songs that use them. “There's certainly a lot of uptempo songs and stuff you can dance to, but heartbreak is really the prevailing theme and I just thought it would be nice to have something that felt a tiny bit like the light at the end of the tunnel. Lykke sings on it—the end—and she brings back the refrain from the opening song. The ToneWay Mountain Music Song Collection has over 400 public domain songs, with free streaming mp3 recordings to learn the melodies. Books with chords and a set of CDs are also available. Since 2003. Justin Sandercoe has thought long and hard about how to teach people to play the guitar, and how to do this over the internet. He has come up with a well-designed series of courses that will take you from nowhere to proficiency. I tried to learn how to play years ago, using books, and got nowhere. 8/30/2018 · As is the case with many AC/DC songs, "You Shook Me All Night Long" employs basic open chords and open-string riffs. There's nothing too challenging in this hard rock classic. ... With a lot of practice, even beginner guitarists should be able to play a lot of this—except, that is, for the guitar solo. ... Learn Songs From the 1970s on Guitar ... 12/25/2013 · 22 Of The Most Heart-Melting Love Songs From 2013. ... "In the darkest night hour / I'll search through the crowd / Your face is all ... but it cuts to the core feeling of wondering how the hell ... A list of the top jazz songs have to include classics by Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. But, there are many other musicians out there who have contributed to the popularity of jazz music. In this article, we list out the top jazz songs that have been popular with the listeners. 11/17/2017 · Let us know what you think we missed, but in the meantime, sit back and take a whirlwind trip through music in cinema with our picks for the 100 Greatest Movie Soundtracks of All Time. –Doug ...

Since this touches on two of my favorite obsessions, travel and Halloween, I thought I’d share here for those who might be interested. Where you'll discover how the mind of one warped writer works. The Eclectic Mind of an Author: join the conversation… Taking over the world and leaving it ruthlessly alone Dating site guys say the darnedest things A former sailor's ramblings on anything from family, country and Church through general geek-ness. A blog about culture, politics, history, and sports. The Gospel of John | Epiphany 2020 Television and New York Cinema, Sin, and Swinging Style My life in stitches - adventures in the world of costuming... Comfort food for an Uncomfortable time A book by Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt. a silent soul emerging "Find what you love and let it kill you." – Charles Bukowski Grumpy old woman raises goats, creates neat stuff, and rants about the world. Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction movie reviews A mad scientist's views on other mad scientists shit storms, shame, and stories that make you cringe

DETAILS: We will be discussing the visual effects of british science fiction drama film MOON with multi-platform artist + ASoF instructor Caegan Meagher with screening to follow. Doors @ 6:30 Free & Open to the public Whether you are interested in knowing a little about visual effects, want to talk shop with a pro, or just enjoy watching and appreciating cinema with likeminded people, this event is for you! ABOUT THE ARTIST: Ceagan Meagher is a local multi-platform artist in motion graphics, visual effects, photography, videography, audio/video editing and workflow management. His client work includes Verizon Wireless, Barnes and Noble, AT&T, Dell and T-Mobile among others. Additional skills and interests blanket the spectrum in 3D, projection mapping, photogrammetry and VR. He is the lead instructor Adobe After Effects and Cinema4D at Austin School of Film.His website and reel can be found at www.neondopemachine.com.

When: Sat 20th of October 2007 Where: Munich, Germany Well then. After the Augsburg rail contest Melanie, her little bro Merlin and I ragged it back to Munich to take in the brothers Benedek and Christoph Weber-Thoresen’s latest adventure in snowboard cinema, In Short. Except we didn’t. Some gong farmers had closed the road back to the Bavarian capital so we had to snail-pace a detour that made us fear we’d miss the film. Fortunately Mel’s got a heavy right foot and, slightly stressed, we arrived in time to collect our tickets. Being that this was their first full-length movie since 91 Words For Snow 2 seasons ago (although they did release the excellent GAP Session documentary last year), and it was being held in the boys’ hometown of Munich, we arrived to find literally hundreds of snowboarding’s cognoscenti clamouring to get to the little white table staffed by Mini Karpf and Sani Alibabic. There was no doubt that this was the ‘hottest ticket in town’, as those who write reviews of musicals are wont to utter. It was pretty much a shit-fight to collect our tickets off the boys, but collect them we did. Only to find that no one checked them. Oh, sweet irony. I am forever your bitch. So, to the film. The cinema was full and David, Boris and Christoph took to the stage accompanied by a couple of the featured riders – namely Christophe Schmidt and Sani. With the help of my girlfriend I understood some of what David was saying: namely, “I promise that we’re way better at making films than we are at organising movie premieres.” Hey, Dave. No stress – it was a sick location and everyone got in in the end. Had it been in England it’d have been all good as we like nothing better than a good queue… Anyway, David was spot on: these guys certainly know how to make a cracking snowboard movie. As the title hints at, In Short is actually a collection of 5 short movies. The intro ‘Tree Riding’ is a Lord of War-inspired sequence that follows the creation of a snowboard from the felling of the tree to Sani Alibabic taking it out the box and strapping it to his feet. It must be said that Sani has got some banging footage in this film. Frontside 10, Cab 10 backside 9, frontside 3 one-foot… all over one of those crazy Blank Paper-type booters mixed in with some fun shreddery. ‘Something’s Missing’ is next up and follows two UK riders, Colum Mytton and Jamie Nicholls, getting wicked on the bristled artificial snow slope in Halifax. The concept of dryslope riding may be alien to the more fortunate European riders, but these boys show that even though something’s missing it’s still possible to throw down the hammers in what must be one of the most beautifully odd locations in a popular snowboard film. Japan is the subject of the third film, ‘Home / Tourists’, as the life of a local guy who lives in his van is mixed in with the arrival of Benedek, Mikey LeBlanc and Eric Messier. It’s all pretty deep and spiritual until the ‘consummate professionals’ turn up. Cue pillow riding, screwing around and epic snow. LeBlanc’s song about Eric-San and his Japanese adventures is most amusing, as is Eric’s enthusiastic – and sleepy – approach to the trip. ‘Zeitmachine’ follows the season as a series of stunning time-lapse photography shot by Christoph Weber-Thoresen interlaced with riding from Markus Keller, Christophe Schmidt and the boys. Schimidt shows off some mad style in the backcountry with his weird, off axis backside 7s and 9s and Keller is solid as ever. Benedek puts the double cork down on a beast in the Pyrennees that the others take to pieces too. The final movie is the longest, dubbed ‘Alaskan Vaction’ and sees Benedek and Christoph hook up with AK veteran Mikey Basich and filmer Jake Price to go camping way out back in Alaska. There’s some tasty lines drawn here, a couple of kicker shots and Weber gets super lucky with an avalanche, all interspersed with documentary footage of the frankly pretty gnarly experience. What all the text above fails to mention is what for me was the highlight of the film. I’ve just banged on about the snowboarding as if this was the same as all the other snowboard flicks. It’s not. For me, In Short is less about the riding and more about the experience we all know as snowboarding, documented from several perspectives. Snowboarding is more than the act of strapping a board to your feet and sliding down a snowy hill. Be it the two-headed beast that is travelling, living in a car to get that first chair, hooking up a buddy trip to the outback with a snowmobile full of beer, or the stoke of getting that new board. Even though most of the riding is cutting edge and out of the reach of the mere mortals, the vibe is one to which anybody who calls themselves a snowboarder can relate. Far from being your blow-by-blow snowboard porno, or even cutting in some behind-the-scenes meriment and faux-funnery, In Short captures riding as it is and how it should be. Someone wrote a review about this film giving them a “fuzzy feeling” and I don’t think I can sum it up better. So I won’t. Make sure you check this out. More info and fun stuff on the Blank Paper website.

Best view in Australia? When it comes to outlooks, you would be hard pressed to find anything better than this Killcare Heights property with its views of the shimmering ocean and scenic national park. "As soon as you walk in, it almost feels like you're at the bow of a ship," agent Trevor Hamilton from McGrath Terrigal said. "My office has sold some of the most expensive beach fronts on the Coast and this one is absolutely one of the best that I've seen." Designed by Nigel Duffton and Jag Building Design, the striking architectural property at 32 Manly View Rd includes lots of natural light - the tall windows allow for views from every room. Be greeted to the home via an elegant foyer leading to an open-plan kitchen, living and dining room overlooking the ocean. With a balcony on both sides of this level, this is the place where you kick your shoes off, take a deep breath and forget about the rest of the world because you have just arrived in paradise. Spending time in the kitchen would be a breeze, with stone island bench top, premium Miele appliances and plenty of space to cook for groups of any size. Downstairs is the perfect retreat for children - there are two bedrooms and a soundproof home cinema with projector and surround sound. There is also a wine cellar, bathroom and laundry. The main bedroom is on the top level and has a spa ensuite and sweeping water views. "There are these incredible glass walls that take advantage of the entire view - the master is just so luxurious," Mr Hamilton said. Just a three minute drive to the sand at Putty or Killcare beach, the location is one of the most sought-after on the Coast. With a few restaurants and cafes just over the hill at Hardy's Bay, the area is a quiet and hidden little hideaway for those who crave an escape from the hustle and bustle. Mr Hamilton said that the sale would be a hard one for the vendors, who built the property from scratch. "It has been a journey of love for the owners, and it will be hard to sell but they are moving interstate," he said. The price guide for 32 Manly View Rd is $3.5 million.

Five Northern Irish Glastonbury Performances Casting an eye back over the homegrown acts who've graced the festive fields of Worthy Farm over the years Northern Ireland has long had a healthy presence at Glastonbury, from Van Morrison's historic headlining sets in 1982 and 1987 right up to Rainy Boy Sleep and SOAK flying the flag at this year's festival. Particularly since the turn of the decade with the country's music scene undergoing its biggest commercial renaissance in recent memory Worthy Farm's smaller stages have almost served as a point of validation for rising artists, the first chance to make an impression in a major setting. With that we invite you to take a look back at a selection of our own who've been fortunate enough to grace those hallowed Bristolian acres, starting with: David Holmes Presents The Free Association (2003) After years of DJing, composing film scores and reworking tracks by some of the world's biggest acts, Belfast producer David Holmes tried his hand at an entirely original, full-band album, subsequently forming The Free Association to take it on the road — including a stop at Glasto's One World Stage. Seven Summits (2010) Though preceded by the likes of General Fiasco and Bap Kennedy the previous year, 2010 marked the point where Northern Irish artists truly began to consolidate the momentum built up back home with a stronger than ever showing at the festival. Under the helm of Rory McConnell, BBC Introducing helped break bands like Belfast guitar-poppers Seven Summits across the channel, with Yes Cadets, Rams' Pocket Radio, The Japanese Popstars, Not Squares and more appearing that year. Two Door Cinema Club (2013) Having already braved the Pyramid Stage two years prior Bangor's most famous sons triumphantly returned off the back of second album Beacons and a mammoth 2012 that saw frontman Alex Trimble even feature as part of Danny Boyle's London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. The Wood Burning Savages (2014) On this day last year Derry's Wood Burning Savages announced themselves to the world with a raucous set full of finely-honed guitar hooks and roaring vocals. Though spending the weekend on home soil this year, the boys remain in high demand having recently played Bundoran's Sea Sessions Surf and Music Festival and helping to soundtrack the Tall Ships festivities in Belfast next week. Tim Wheeler and co. have made the pilgrimage to Somerset innumerous times over the course of their 20-plus year career, but an oft-forgotten fact is that the then-teens stepped up as replacement main stage headliners in 1997 after Steve Winwood was forced to pull out. Not only did they pull off the dream slot with abandon, they'd already performed that afternoon on The Other Stage. Talk about working overtime...

The following review was written when the film ‘Verfolgt’ came out in the cinema. I’m now posting a revised, expanded version here to make the review available again. While it doesn’t give away a lot of details, this text isn’t entirely spoiler free. Specifically in its portrayal of a sadomasochistic relationship, the film has some awesome and some problematic aspects. I definitely recommend watching it. ‘Verfolgt’ was released on DVD in Germany by MMM Film. A version by Millivres Multimedia with English subtitles is available in the UK under the title ‘Hounded’. In the USA and Canada, Picture This! Entertainment released the movie on DVD under the name ‘Punish Me’ with a choice of English and Spanish subtitles. Verfolgt - Hounded - Punish Me. A film by Angelina Maccarone. The DVD cover shows the protagonists Elsa (played by Maren Kroymann) and Jan (played by Kostja Ullmann). Verfolgt – Hounded – Punish Me. A film by Angelina Maccarone. MMM Film. Germany 2006. My partner and I went to watch Angelina Maccarone’s film Verfolgt (Hounded) at the cinema in 2007. We were intrigued when it was announced as a love story and drama with sadomasochism as its theme. ‘Verfolgt’ takes place in present-day Hamburg and tells a story about fairly ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances. It shows their discovery of sadomasochism – gritty, awkward, human, unpretentious, and ardent. We meet two protagonists who evidently should not have a love affair with each other. Under the given circumstances, such an affair would be unsuitable, unethical, risky and dumb. They don’t just conventionally fall in love. They start a sadomasochistic relationship. Elsa (Maren Kroymann), a probation officer, is middle-aged and married. Jan (Kostja Ullmann) is just another one of the juvenile delinquents she works with. He is young and socially awkward and in trouble. He is also masochistic. And he encounters a woman, Elsa, whose presence touches this inner potential. Despite the fact that, clueless about dating as he is, Jan goes about the courtship in the most creepily off-putting manner imaginable, openly and secretly following her around, and instead of putting his request into words, coercing her into kinky interaction without her consent, something in the young man’s nature eventually sparks a flame of dominance and sadism inside Elsa. She becomes intrigued, attracted, and becomes deeply fond of him. Their secret encounters, however, are threatened by their social circles’ suspicion and incomprehension from the start. The ethics of Elsa’s profession, as well as the considerable age difference, would already present plenty of taboos to complicate their lives without BDSM thrown in. Something I love about the film’s sadomasochistic scenes is how basic and unvarnished they are. The protagonists experiment with surrender and control, distance and closeness, vulnerability, desire, and the fire of giving and receiving pain. What they do is anything but perfect; it is a learning process with stumbling blocks. With Jan’s willing cooperation, Elsa’s first attempt at erotic dominance works well. In terms of pain play however it is a laughable letdown. When she doesn’t really dare yet to do anything along those lines, Jan, intelligent and patient, acquiesces. Elsa makes mistakes, for example, an apparently un-negotiated scene, which due to her ignorance of her bottom’s characteristics casts him into bleak sadness. On an occasion when Elsa takes the step of giving her sadism free rein, she experiences top drop following the glory, and in the aftercare scene Jan comforts and reassures his dominant partner. Another thing I love about the film drama’s BDSM content is that I find the scenes sexy. The acting is convincing throughout. Add to that the fact that the film is aesthetically pleasing and filmed in black and white. I found Kostja Ullmann wonderfully desirable in his role as a submissive man, and it is little wonder that I also recommend Verfolgt for its eroticism. The stalking scenes made me cringe, and fervently hope that no single submissive men go home from the cinema with the harebrained notion that stalking is a way of making oneself attractive. I found the plot idea of stalking, of all things, leading to a relationship, implausible and exasperating. ‘Hey, it’s a fictional story, not an advice column,’ I repeated to myself numerous times. (In fact, wouldn’t it be a joy to see some more films with female characters actively and directly courting their objects of desire.) One partner being so much younger than the other one is an extreme choice for a story, but thanks to the actors and directing, the relationship comes to life in a way that is both cogent and touching. It rather surprised me that with all their erotic interaction, the protagonists never get around to also having sex in a conventional sense. The genre of this film is relationship drama, so the problems need to be generated from themes related to the characters’ personal lives. Joy and fun and untroubled tears don’t take precedence in this type of narrative. It is at present still rare for fiction addressed to a wider audience to approach the subject of sadomasochism in good faith, rather than just use it for laughs or exoticism. As I’m a sadomasochistic person, I watch a film with this theme not just as an interesting film in general. I’m acutely aware of how this particular aspect of the characters’ lives is portrayed, and how it connects with the plot as a whole. In particular, I am acutely aware of the role of prejudices and stereotypes which are associated with sadomasochism in our wider culture (and sometimes also perpetuated by sadomasochistic people themselves). What, then, were my impressions of ‘Verfolgt’ in particular with regard to prejudices and stereotypes? Let’s start with things that impressed me positively. Elsa and Jan are amateurs. They are learning as they go along. Elsa, discovering her sadistic interest, doesn’t magically transform into a know-it-all. She needs to try things out, start slowly. The characters are amateurs in the best sense of the word, lovers who do something they love. Jan is an erotic, desirable, submissive, masochistic man. The scenes showing his submission – once the characters get around to interacting consensually – are very attractive. Our wider culture, as well as many sadomasochistic subcultures, have tremendous sexist prejudices, often casting submissive, masochistic men as erotically undesired and undesirable. Not this film at all. Especially the intimate scenes showing his beauty make me want to watch the film again. Elsa doesn’t need a costume. Inside subcultures, dictates of commercialisation and sexism still cause a good deal of female hetero beginners to ask ‘I want to dominate my man for the first time. What should I wear?’. This does not refer to people who actually have clothing fetishes themselves, but to people being collectively or individually pressured into costumes. It is immensely pleasant to see a female character simply going right ahead. Costume? What costume? Jan and Elsa don’t buy and sell their interaction. They are in a personal relationship. Most people don’t get told by pervasive cultural narratives that the default of their sexuality is sex work. Heterosexual dominant women and submissive men get told just that. Our culture still overwhelmingly frames a man submitting to a woman as a commercial service which a man buys from a woman he is not otherwise in a relationship with. To the point of casting dominant and sadistic women as sex workers by default, and submissive and masochistic men as clients by default. To the point of pressuring many women into imitating prodoms and porn performers in their personal lives, and to the point of causing many men to act as if they were clients even in non-commercial, personal contexts (client mentality). To the point of, in the wider culture and in many sadomasochistic subcultures, effectively erasing and repelling women who happen to be sadistic and/or dominant in their personal lives. It is gloriously refreshing to see a story of a submissive man and a dominant woman doing their own sadomasochistic stuff inside a personal relationship. One of the prejudices which sadomasochists of all genders and orientations encounter is explicitly addressed. The film shows side characters ignorantly conflating sadomasochism and abuse, and shows harmful consequences such prejudices can have. It’s an important point in the plot and excellently shown. These things wouldn’t be so notable if most average moviegoers were familiar with a variety of sadomasochistic characters who are in relationships, non-abusive, amateurs, and don’t need extraordinary clothes. As it is, ‘Verfolgt’ can have a certain pioneer function in this respect, which subsequent filmmakers can draw inspiration from. Things I’m ambivalent about. Some powerful figure exploiting an unequal situation – that’s often the stuff sadomasochistic fantasies are made of. Except that this story is meant to be a realistic one. Thus, ‘Verfolgt’ shows different layers: Jan taking the initiative and projecting his submissive energy onto a person who has some measure of real power over him. Elsa’s position which, rather than making things easier for the characters, realistically makes a relationship more difficult, due to laws regulating a probation officer’s interaction with her wards. What this particular film does not show is the more common realistic version: sadomasochists who meet on an equal footing, and together construct their own versions of inequality from scratch, voluntarily and based on their respective inclinations. Vague association with crime. Apart from ridicule and commerce, common prejudice often associates sadomasochism with crime. Want to spice up a crime TV show? Wheel out the bizarre sex people. In ‘Verfolgt’, one of the characters has a criminal record. At least it is Jan, so it is not the tired ‘sadist = criminal’ trope. Crime isn’t a major theme though, it’s mostly a background occasion to bring the two main characters together. Except that Jan’s stalking and harassment of Elsa moves into criminal territory as well. Which brings us to… Things that made a negative impression on me. Cheating. Damn, that was depressing. A far too common cliché assumes that sadomasochistic people are less likely to consider cheating unethical than the general population. They do all this other ‘forbidden’ stuff too, don’t they? Cheating, as opposed to voluntary, negotiated polyamory, is nonconsensual. It causes nonconsensual suffering. Are sadomasochists more, less, or just as likely to cheat on partners than the general population? I don’t know. I’d prefer if fictional plots didn’t automatically associate one with the other, thus rehashing negative prejudices. At least in this story cheating appears in one of the less commonly retold variants. It is not the ‘dominant woman = the other woman’ trope. Pressuring, harassment, stalking and nonconsensual scenes leading to a relationship and consensual interaction. This was the hardest for me to bear. It constitutes a large part of the beginning of the plot. I found these scenes so awful that, hadn’t I heard good things about the film beforehand, I might have wanted to leave the cinema early, and we’d have missed the hot erotic and interesting stuff later on. The title of the film, ‘Verfolgt’ (Hounded), says it already. The harassment and pressure is, sadly, not the unrealistic part. If one is unfamiliar with the off-putting things people can experience in SM spaces, there may be an initial difficulty putting this part of the plot into context. It is not unheard of for people with entitlement issues to forget that the bottom’s voluntary consent is only one half of consensual kink, and that the top’s voluntary consent is just as relevant. It is for example, sadly, not unheard of for women going to SM events to suddenly find a complete stranger licking their shoes without having bothered to ask their consent (let alone introduce himself and get to know the person in question as a human being first). Even when it is against the rules of an event to engage in kinky interaction without consent, on occasion there are people who do it anyway. (Client mentality: I showed up, now I’m entitled to kinky action with someone, anyone.) In discussions about sadomasochism, it is sadly not unusual for people to ask the entitled question ‘How do I get my partner to do X?’, rather than a consent-oriented ‘How do I ask my partner if they want to try out X?’ – let alone a reciprocal ‘And how do I ask my partner what things they would like to try out?’. Jan not bothering to ask Elsa’s consent is sadly not unrealistic. People starting to explore their kinky interests later in life, as is the case with Elsa, is not unrealistic either. What is unrealistic in this plot is the favourable outcome of Jan’s stalking, hounding and pressuring. Stalkers hardly suddenly find themselves in loving relationships with their targets. Pressuring is more likely to destroy whatever positive interest in experimentation may have been there. Nonconsensual entitled behaviour drives people, especially women, away from the company of other kinky people, and drives them to give up on kinky dating. Always supposing personal interests in dominance and/or sadism are there inside a character in the first place, in a plot with a modicum of plausibility, someone who pressures, acts without consent and walks all over personal boundaries is pretty much the least likely candidate to earn the necessary trust to become the person to explore them with. The film here rehashes a cultural narrative which is not specific to sadomasochism. It is the wider cultural misconception of women’s sexuality as nonspecific, with no desires of our own. It is the erroneous narrative of women’s sexuality as reactive and malleable to whatever wishes a man happens to project onto us. Again, ‘Verfolgt’ is a relationship drama, so the main characters’ relationship itself is expected to be a source of lots of plot-driving problems. What I hope for in the future are new films with sadomasochistic characters in them, where the plot’s conflicts and dramatic tension originate from a plethora of other sources than some sort of association with crime, people cheating on partners, and issues with nonexistent or dubious consent. Also, dominant women who, yes indeed, do have sex with the men who submit to them. Come on script writers, you can do it! And I hope for more films showing, like ‘Verfolgt’, sadomasochism with subtlety, beauty and human depth. I hope for more films showing, like ‘Verfolgt’, hotness and desirability of submissive and masochistic men. I hope for more films showing people doing sadomasochism in their personal lives; out of complementary desire and desire for each other; in their everyday appearance, undisguised; imperfect, learning as they go along; with mutual regard, caring, passion and love. The world of sadomasochism is wide and varied. This film gives a glimpse of two characters who start giving life to their own inner wishes under extremely adverse conditions. On the whole, ‘Verfolgt’ is not a cheerful film. But it is very much worth seeing, for people interested in good cinema, sadomasochism, or both. Language note: It should be noted that in the German language, we often use the word ‘Sadomasochismus’ – sadomasochism – in a broad sense, encompassing a wide range of erotic domination, submission, bondage, giving and receiving pain, and a variety of fetishes. ‘Verfolgt’ won the Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present) Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2006. Images from MMM Film Elsa (Maren Kroymann) sitting in a chair, looking at Jan as he undresses for her. The erotic tension in their scenes is beautifully enacted. The background illustrates the grim homelessness of their secret relationship. They improvise and hide. Photo: MMM Film. Jan’s expressive face, looking up (Kostja Ullmann). The collar is something he brought along. Elsa, however, has no need to conform to conventions of sadomasochistic fashions. She has a different idea for something she wants him to wear... Photo: MMM Film. Links for the film DVD. Available from bookstores and DVD sellers Verfolgt. DVD Region 2. MMM Film. Germany Hounded. DVD Region 2. With subtitles in English. Millivres Multimedia. UK Punish Me. DVD Region 1. With subtitles in English or Spanish. Picture This! Entertainment. USA and Canada Picture gallery on Kino.de Excerpts from the film Trailer: Verfolgt. MMM Film Trailer: Punish Me. Picture This Entertainment One of their scenes Verfolgt on IMDB (German) Verfolgt on IMDB (English) Verfolgt article in Wikipedia (German) Thanks to Nikita for proofreading the English text when the review was originally written. This review in German: Verfolgt. Ein Film von Angelina Maccarone. Filmbesprechung auf Deutsch.

When “Brecht” launched at the Berlinale, with a premiere attended by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, it was the fruition of long-gestating project for German director Heinrich Breloer. He had met the associates of the German playwright decades earlier, but only now has used his trademark drama-meets-documentary approach to filmmaking to make a biopic of Brecht. As buyers come on board the Bavaria Fiction-produced series and it finds international homes, Breloer talks about making the miniseries. Was “Brecht” many years in the making? Back in 1977 I met Paula Banholzer, Brecht’s first love, and some of his friends from his early days. I made a documentary film about Brecht’s early years entitled ‘Bi and Bidi in Augsburg.’ Since then, while making a range of other films I found myself thinking about this story again and again. Was it easy to find the subjects for the documentary segments of “Brecht”? A lot of them are still alive, the people who were young a few years after the Second World War and were Brecht’s assistants at the Berliner Ensemble. They told me stories about Brecht’s return from exile in America, and about the development of a new kind of theater in the eastern part of Berlin. It also emerged that many of the questions Brecht posed in his day have lost none of their contemporary relevance 63 years after his death. “The subheading for the film was ‘a legacy comes alive’…the genius everyone worships comes down from the pedestal” How did you capture the story of the Brecht the man? Brecht deliberately concealed his private life, his persona. He wanted to be perceived only in terms of his work. He loved the masks of the classics. My intention, the subheading for the film, was ‘a legacy comes alive.’ The genius everyone worships comes down from the pedestal and faces us, beyond any form of ideology, and as a constantly productive individual who was very demanding of the people around him, especially his mistresses. What is the look of the show, with its mixture of forms? The look arises from the montage of various materials: the high-gloss staged scenes using state-of-the-art techniques, combined with older elements from the 1970s research, and the newly-filmed conversations with Brecht’s former colleagues from the last years of his life. There’s also amateur footage, which shows Brecht in a way we’ve never seen him before. This in turn creates the look of a double exposure between drama and documentary. In this way the film is constantly narrated on different levels at the same time. And all of this comprises the search for the Brecht that is unknown to us. What can you do with docu-drama that you can’t with drama or documentary alone? In his epic theater Brecht developed a kind of language and acting technique that creates distance and makes what is depicted strange, in order to break the illusion of the theater and address the audience directly. That ensures that members of the audience are prompted to think and, from a distance, become able to recognize themselves, their own failings and possibilities – in order to prompt a change in their lives and in the society outside the theater. And you employed a similar technique in “Brecht”? When I employ documentary material to interrupt the illusion of the high-gloss cinema elements, I am establishing a similar distance. When the fiction is broken by means of reality in this way, it can prompt the members of the audience to think. Sometimes the documentary confirms the drama and vice versa, while sometimes the documentary contradicts the re-enactments. The old Paula reads the diary written by the young Brecht, where he claims he taught her to swim and she says: “The liar.” When I intercut a dramatic re-enactment and an interview conducted 60 years later with one of the real people depicted in that enactment, the two levels can give a particular perspective. In the ideal case magic moments can develop from the encounter between the present and the past, fiction and reality, creating an authenticity that could not be achieved with staged scenes or documentary elements alone. Source: Read Full Article

At CES 2018, Samsung has today unveiled ’The Wall’, which is the first consumer TV based on self-emitting microLED technology that is seen as one of the display technology of tomorrow. Module-based microLED TV The TV measures 146 inches in diagonal and built from smaller modules. The MicroLED display technology is highly scalable, as Samsung has already shown with its ’Cinema LED’ screens used in movie teathers. However, what is more important is that microLED is an entirely new display technology. Unlike Samsung’s ”QLED”, which is conventional LCD technology, microLED is new a self-emitting display technology that shares several similarities with OLED technology. - “As the world’s first consumer modular MicroLED television, ‘The Wall’ represents another breakthrough. It can transform into any size, and delivers incredible brightness, color gamut, color volume and black levels. We’re excited about this next step along our roadmap to the future of screen technology, and the remarkable viewing experience it offers to consumers,” said Jonghee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung. ”Without restrictions to size” Samsung says that microLED is ”without restrictions to size, resolution or form”. The pixels are based on micrometer-size LEDs that generate light and color. No backlight or color filters are required, Samsung added. - ”The MicroLED technology featured in The Wall eliminates the need for color filters or backlight, yet allows the screen to offer consumers the ultimate viewing experience. Also, the MicroLED screen excels in durability and effectiveness, including luminous efficiency, the light source lifetime and power consumption, setting the standard for future screen technology.” MicroLED is seen as a direct competitor to OLED technology. One of the main advantages is that it can accomodate very large screen sizes. - "Made possible by Samsung’s advancements in semiconductor processing techniques and LED technology, the pixel LED modules of The Wall’s self-emitting technology are smaller than ever before, and each chip incorporates RGB color. As a result, The Wall’s self-emitting technology removes the need for color filters altogether and is able to deliver up to 2000 nits of peak brightness, brighter white hues, darker black shades and the truest natural colors." Of course, there are still tons of unanswered questions. Samsung says that it will produce up to 2000 nits peak brightness but failed to specify the resolution of the display panel. The good news is that microLED is closer to the market than you think. Samsung’s The Wall will ship later this year but we are left to wonder how much it will cost. Our guess? Expensive, very expensive.

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Orange Customer Service Number Call our connection service for the Orange Customer Service Number. Calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone providers access charge. For more information on Mobile Phones, Billing and Mobile Broadband call the Orange Support Number on 0843 515 9057. We are not affiliated with EE or Orange. Orange have long been one of the UK’s favourite networks. With the recent merge with T-Mobile to become EE, they form part of the largest mobile provider in the country. Famous for their 2 for 1 cinema tickets deals and providing the country with the best 3G coverage, they really do have a product to suit everybody’s needs. We have sourced this Orange Customer Services Number, 0843 515 9057, to make it easier for you to call one of their representatives directly. What Is The Customer Service Number For Orange? One customer service number for Orange is 0843 515 9057 which you can call for all enquiries. Whether you need help understanding your bill, using your mobile, accessing the internet or to make a complaint, you can be sure to find the answers you need. For those looking for the best deal on a mobile or data contract, call the Orange Contact Number to see what they can offer. Upgrading your phone has never been easier. Another way to purchase a new mobile is to call Orange Customer Service Number on 0843 515 9057 to speak with an advisor. Contact Orange – Opening Hours You can call the Orange Customer Service Number 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0843 515 9057. Upgrading Your Orange Contract Given the merge of T-mobile and Orange, EE are in the process of moving all Orange and T-mobile customers to EE, making a consistent brand. You can upgrade from orange to EE very easily and quickly to get incredible deals. To move over to EE as an Orange customer simply log in to your online account and check your upgrade date. If you are eligible for an upgrade then this can be done with EE. You can check your account on EE’s website. If you do not have an online account with EE then you will need to register to get information about when you can upgrade and join the EE movement. From here all you need to do is chose your phone and data plan, head over to the checkout and receive free delivery on any order. It really is that simple. Being an Orange customer you can text if you have any issues. For Pay-as-you-go and pay monthly text code to 150. - To check your balance text BA - To check recent invoices & payments text BILL - To check for upgrade eligibility text UP - To check your unbilled costs text USAGE - Keep track of bundles/extras text BUNDLES - To get a list of Orange’s most common services text HELP This is great to use if your enquiry is a simple one, just text the code to 150 and get a response as soon as possible. Making a Complaint to Orange If you want to complain about your mobile, 4G, Wifi or tablets, contact EE’s customer service advisors on 0800 956 6060. They are open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday and close at 6pm on the weekend. From your mobile 150 From a UK landline 07973 100 150 From abroad +44 7973 100 150 From your mobile 450 From a UK landline 07973 100 450 From abroad +44 7973 100 450 Depending on your price plan you may be charged for calls made to orange. Calls that are outside of the usual opening hours, until 10pm on weekdays and 8pm on weekends will be charged 50p. Landline and Home Broadband From your Orange phone call 150 Calls may be charged from your mobile phone, depending on your price plan Call from any phone 0844 873 8586 Call from another line 0800 079 8586 Or send an email to explore.ee.co.uk/broadband/email-us Customers with Disabilities (all providers) Call 122 from your Orange phone. Disability Care from any phone call 0808 121 1122 Calls from abroad +44 0808 121 1122 You can also write to EE to make a complaint, just remember to include: - Your full name - Your address - Your account number and mobile phone number - Your landline telephone number (if you are a broadband customer) - Which provider you are with (T-mobile or Orange) - Outline of your complaint - Contact number Send letter to: 6 Camberwell Way Tyne and Wear Or you can email your complaint to Orange at firstname.lastname@example.org Unlocking Your Orange Phone When you buy a phone from Orange or EE, it is locked into that network meaning you will not be able to use it on any other network. To get around this and be able to use your phone with any other network you will need to unlock it. This can be done by calling 150 on your Orange device and paying a small unlocking fee of £8.99. If you are on a pay monthly contract plan then you will have to have had your contract for 6 months or more before you are able to unlock your phone. If you are on pay-as-you-go then this unlock will be done within 10 days. It can take longer in some instances because Orange will need to contact your manufacturer to get a code to unlock your device. They should keep you updated on the process. Can I cancel my contract early? Yes, you are able to cancel your contract before it is finished however you will need to contact EE and will be subject to early termination charges on top of a Notice Period Charge. Your request to cancel will be charged within 30 days of your request and will show up on your bill as remaining contract charge. When can I upgrade my phone? This always depends on your contract agreement. Most contracts are for 24 months but others can be longer or shorter depending on your contract. If you are unsure or would like to find out how much time you have left before you can upgrade, contact EE on… or log into your online account. Will my next upgrade be with EE rather than Orange? Yes, EE own both Orange and T-mobile and are slowly making the switch over to merge the two into one brand. Any upgrade you make now will be under EE. Can I cap my Usage? Yes, if you are on a pay monthly plan then you will be able to cap your plan to ensure you do not go over and rack up unwanted charges. Simply call EE on… and ask to have your contract capped. Can I use my Orange phone abroad? There are two restrictions when it comes to using your phone abroad, one is your device and the second is network. If your phone is Quad-band then you can use your phone worldwide, if it is Tri-band then you can use it anywhere in Europe. This will be outlined in your specifications. Being an Orange customer there are network charges to using your phone abroad. You will be charged roaming rates so it is best to let Orange know if you are heading off travelling so you can change your settings and minimise roaming charges. If you experience problems with the Helpline, please contact us. We aim to keep the information on this website as up-to-date as possible. Don’t forget to rate your call experience with Orange Customer Service Number – 0843 515 9057 using the stars below.

Movie Showtimes in Asheville, NC Grail Moviehouse - River Hills 10 - Asheville Pizza & Brewing - Carolina Cinemas Asheville - Biltmore Grande - Flat Rock Cinema - Epic Theaters of Hendersonville - Fine Arts All tickets are just $3.00. The theater is equipped with all the fancy digital sound and picture quality you've come to expect from the full price theaters... even 3D! As you can imagine, tickets go quickly. Please come early for tickets (you can even buy them one day in advance). All movie times are subject to change by local theater.

From Early Years to Key Stage 4 and beyond, the National Science and Media Museum provides stunning opportunities to learn about the principles of light and sound and the science behind photography, film and television. Inspire your class with our exciting interactive science shows, workshops and galleries, experience a documentary in our spectacular IMAX cinema, or explore our learning resources. Exploring Space science show Students can explore the universe with light in this interactive show—it’s out of this world! IMAX: Apollo 11: First Steps Edition Follow in the footsteps of astronauts and discover the real-life story of what it took to walk on the Moon. Bring the Thunder science show Can you set fire to sound? Speak like a Dalek? Create an indoor thunderstorm? Find out in this interactive show. The Big Idea science show Discover how engineers use science to solve problems and create new technologies. Learn about different types of animation, make clay models, and work in groups to create your very own animation. IMAX 3D: Dream Big Learn how engineers push the limits of innovation in unexpected and amazing ways. IMAX 3D: Walking with Dinosaurs Experience a year in the life of hundreds of dinosaurs as they face the challenges of a changing world. IMAX 3D: Born to be Wild Follow orphaned orang-utans and elephants, and meet the extraordinary people who care for these incredible animals. IMAX 3D: A Beautiful Planet Explore the impact of humanity on planet Earth with stunning footage captured from space. Enjoy technology in action in our brilliantly retro Games Lounge. Play your way through gaming history with classic games, from Pac-Man to Super Mario Kart. How did our lives change when the internet was born? Find out in the world’s first gallery dedicated to the social, technological and cultural impact of the web. Take a journey through the history of photography. Step into a 19th century portrait studio, see hundreds of incredible objects from our collection, and watch the world’s first moving colour film.

February 1979, the country of your birth, St. Lucia, becomes an independent nation, a country you have no memory of. This act of self-determination means that overnight you become a St. Lucian citizen. Automatically triggering the removal of your family’s British citizenship. In 1981 a new UK law means that you and all your UK-resident family will have to register and pay for the right to be British citizens. Your mother, Joan Cheddie, is another Caribbean woman with two names. Your maternal grandparents are not married and the Catholic priest in St. Lucia will not record her father’s name. Raised by her father, after her mother’s death, your mother’s nickname, her father’s surname, and the official given names are completely different. In 1956, the colonial official demands that your mother’s first British passport record only her official names. On her son’s birth certificate is the name Joan Cheddie. Traveling to England for the first time with her young son, your mother must legally change her names, to be recognized as his mother. In 1959, the solicitor in St. Lucia, registering your mother’s legal change of names, becomes the politician that negotiates and signs St. Lucia’s independence document. Winter 1981, a slim package from the Home Office arrives, a grey-brown two-hundred-gram paper, bearing only your name, your date of birth, and the signature of a Home Office official. It was some time ago that you decided to apply for your British Registration document. Barely out of your teens, you navigated the British immigration system alone. In 1981, this official document offers the promise of belonging. Despite countless house moves and an international relocation, the British Registration document miraculously remains in your possession forty years later. This flimsy document will be the gossamer veil between legal/illegal status that will allow you to keep rights and privileges that you have long taken for granted and paid into—the right to work, a roof over your head, access to healthcare—and in the future will insure that your British-born child can claim a British passport. You will in time become the good immigrant, documented, educated, and resilient. The postcolonial condition you will spend your adult life writing about—displacement, doubleness, and loss—will in 2018 become an embodied physical crisis. You will be un-homed within the only place that you have known as home. In 2018, after years of drip-drip stories of deportations and broken lives, you begin to slowly understand, your British Registration document confirms your status, in the words of the British government website, as a documented Commonwealth citizen. Your British Registration document is in reality a thin thread of citizenship that leaves you like the spider on a silken fiber, airborne and at the mercy of changing and hostile political currents. British when Britain wants young workers to rebuild its Empire; an immigrant, now that you are old and expendable. In summer 1981, your mother’s disbelief and anger washes over you; she is staring at you, looking for some recognition of the Thatcher’s government betrayal. You are nonchalant and arrogant. You pay little attention to the broken social contract between the British government and its colonial subjects—you, your brother, your mother, and the countless others who made the journey to postwar Britain. Winter 1981, your mother is in her forties, younger than the older you writing this letter. Her rage visceral, fiery, heart-broken, concealing a loss, a betrayal of the promise that we were British citizens moving freely between the West Indies and Britain. Had London not molded her? How, your mother demands, is she not British? Had not the flesh and bones of her child, your youngest British-born brother, buried in the London clay, cemented our belonging? Your mother had come not once, but twice, to the Motherland, first with your older brother, then traveling back to St. Lucia to nurse her dying father, then returning to London with two young children, you and your brother. A journey that cost your brother a much-prized scholarship to high school. His education lost, replaced by the blunt racism and low expectations of 1960s British education. You and your brother never speak of the details of this journey, until much later. It is only when dementia and the enormity of the Windrush scandal has unfolded that you and your brother search for your mother’s registration document and in the process find the name of the ship you all arrived on, the Ascania, and the date of arrival, underneath dementia’s fear and chaos, on an old suitcase. The ship’s name was not recorded in your mother’s passport. Your cousin, undocumented, tells you later that the UK Home Office is demanding that he, who arrived as an infant, should produce not only his aunt’s original passport that he traveled on but also the name of the ship that bought him to England. This is a cruel joke. Ten years earlier the UK government had ordered the destruction of all ships’ landing cards, the only other official record of arrival. You are taken aback by the fading first-class stamp on your mother’s suitcases, having only known the saving, the frugality; this act of seeming extravagance disrupts your carefully composed narrative of your mother. Opening the trunks that lined her bedroom like remnants of a lost past, you are assailed by childhood memories of secretly opening these trunks, full of things for the return journey “home.” Finding these trunks empty confirms a life made in England. When you find your mother’s documents, the date on her British Registration document is 1988; you wonder what changed her mind. In another box you find a receipt from the Home Office of her application for British Registration, dated 1983. Why the delay? It was 1983 that your young brother died in a house fire. Did your mother’s unimaginable loss prompt in her a fear that she and your older brother would lose their right to stay in Britain? Into that void of British/not British, in order to travel “home” to grieve and tell the family of your brother’s death, your mother has to acquire a St. Lucian passport. The St. Lucian embassy inserts into her passport her 1965 British passport number. What humiliations did she encounter returning to the UK from St. Lucia on her first journey back in twenty years? Your mother does not travel again until she receives her British passport. In 2018, as the Windrush scandal unfolds, other Caribbean migrants recount stories of having had their British passports removed at the border and being denied re-entry—despite jobs, homes, and families in the UK. By 1981, you have long since moved from being St. Lucian, Jaaniece Chéy-dee to the British Jan-nis Chedd-dee; even when you correct them, people still repeat Chedd-dee. You have mastered the London accent, no longer code switching between home and school, passing as black British. Ashamed at your own cowardice, you never say Chedd-dee in front of your mother, the name she fought so hard to preserve. You have no second thoughts about the loss of your British citizenship, you write to the Home Office, a simple process, a completed form with the names and signatures of British citizens vouching for you, your St. Lucian birth certificate, and a check for £50. Swallowing Thatcher’s lie that British Registration was a mere formality, a choice. No four pieces of documentation for every year you have lived in the UK; no month’s wages plus legal fees; no good character test, in a land where even vulnerable black ten-year-olds are deemed without good character, a land without second chances; no two years’ leave to remain and reapplication every two years for ten years, with escalating costs. Your primary motivation in 1981 is that you want to travel—a St. Lucian passport presents itself with too much potential for endless visa applications and refusals. Your British identify feels assured, confident, and unshakable. You feel safe, the coming decades of the tightening web of immigration controls becomes an abstract political reality, something that happens to other families, later arrivals and communities. In 1981, you are firm in your belief that France, Spain, and New York are calling to you with open arms. Later, traveling alone for work brings your airport stories, endless tales of hostile and invasive airport encounters in Fortress Europe. Unhindered travel will prove a mirage. A day will come, unimaginable in 1981, when Windrush is no longer the fading cinema reel of the romantic cliché of postwar immigration, of stylish young men and the dulcet tones of Lord Kitchener singing impromptu, “London is the place for me.” Celebrated in the opening of the 2012 London Olympics, to represent Britain’s progress as a modern inclusive nation. Empire Windrush becomes six years later the Windrush scandal, a potent omen of a future Brexit Britain, with hard, unrelenting hostility toward migrants and selective historical amnesia. Even in London, post the 2016 referendum and the nation’s decision to leave the European Union, the places you once felt welcomed will become cold and hostile. Brexit presenting you with a nostalgic reimaging of “global Britain” as the lost British Empire, of passive and receptive colonial subjects. How you laughed in 1981 when you read through the accompanying Home Office documentation, stating that Her Majesty’s Government had the right to remove your citizenship. Unthinkable that in 2018, the stripping away of British citizenship, from British-born and foreign-born citizens, is not remarkable or shocking. Surely only an act of treason could remove your paid-for British citizenship. The phrase “conducive to the public good” seems touchingly vague and quaint in 1981, but in 2018 the phrase hangs over you like a threat. In 2013, the UK government deems a peaceful protest by a white Commonwealth citizen against class privilege in the River Thames as not “conducive to the public good,” resulting in a prison sentence for a first offence and then a deportation order. Politically engaged, your participation and possible arrest at a peaceful protest brings with it the constant reminder that your presence in the UK can also be deemed as not “conducive to the public good.” In 2015, in the midst of your mother’s rapidly worsening dementia crisis and a change of doctor, the immigration point makes itself visible. When a young receptionist at the new doctor’s surgery demands you produce a passport for your eighty-two-year-old mother before she can access healthcare. You have all the previously required documents and ask why an eighty-two-year-old suffering from dementia and unable to travel would need a passport? Catching in your own voice your mother’s disbelief and outrage. All your mother’s British passports have been stolen by a trusted family member; without her passport or her British Registration document in your possession, your mother is one step away from the chain of immigration reporting that would mark her as possibly illegal, halting her pension and the healthcare she urgently needs. The kindly intervention of a fellow Caribbean woman gives your mother access. It is months later that you recognize the nightmare your mother was saved from. Shaken, you are disturbed but not called to action, your belief in the social contract between Britain and West Indians remains intact. You and your brother stay silent, like so many others. Some weeks later you will post your mother’s original British passport and the Ascania ship’s stamp onto your Facebook timeline, celebrating your family’s fifty years of arrival/survival in the UK. In 2018, this image of your young mother pops up on your Facebook timeline mocking you. It is a lie. For months, weekly images of Caribbean faces have been appearing in your news feed, some your age or just a little bit older, broken, made homeless, left without the right to work and healthcare, some left to die, others deported. You wonder how many of the fifteen passengers traveling on the Ascania have been deported or left without immigration status. Signing endless petitions, donating money to the Guardian newspaper that has kept the story alive, producing within you a racial terror of an unimaginable kind. May 2018, the Windrush scandal turns your fear to panic, you finally realize that your Britishness is not guaranteed. Your mother’s realization forty years ago, that promises made by British governments to immigrants are written with political sell-by dates floods your consciousness. You do not want to encounter another health professional/immigration official demanding proof of your mother’s legal status in the UK in a moment of crisis. Manically reproducing e-copies of all your family documents and spending £100 on a new British passport that your mother will never use. Only when the passport arrives do you feel safe in the knowledge that the possession of a UK passport will allow your mother to obtain access to the healthcare she has paid into for more than fifty years. You become the barrier, shielding your mother from the betrayals, listening for every nuance, fearing the tightening post-Brexit immigration net will may trap you all—mother, brother, daughter. Identifying yourself as a member of the Windrush Generation when your mother’s passport arrives, removing your mask of black Britishness. But it is winter 1981 and you are safe in the illusion of freedom that British Registration allows you. Your youth gives you a sense of invincibility and a firm belief that your mother, having come this far, can weather any storms that await. In the future your mother’s anguish, vulnerability, and sense of betrayal will be yours. In 2018 your answer to your mother’s question of forty years ago that you chose to ignore, If we are not British, what are we?, will be documented and for now tolerated, but not British. Janice Cheddie was born in Micoud, St. Lucia, West Indies, and arrived in the United Kingdom with her mother and older brother in the 1960s. She is a London-based researcher, writer, and consultant who works across academia and cultural policy. She has a PhD in cultural studies. Janice (ORCID iD Number 0000-0002-2261-042X) has published widely on issues of visual culture and difference. Between 2002 and 2015 she was, with Shaheen Merali, keeper of the Panchayat Special Collection, a visual arts archive; the collection transferred to the Tate Gallery Library in 2015.

Star Cinema Released Trailer Of "Starting Over Again"Toni Gonzaga and Piolo Pascual will reunite in Star Cinema's "Starting Over Again." The movie is still part of the movie outfit's 20th anniversary celebration. In the movie, Piolo plays the role of Marco. He's a professor-turned-chef who fell in love with his student, Ginny (Toni). However, Ginny left him for unknown reasons. Marco fell in love with Patty (Iza Calzado) right before Ginny came back to his life. This time, Ginny realized what she lost when she left Marco. Ginny will try to pursue Marco again, but he will resist the temptation to forgive her that easily. "Starting Over Again" was written by Carmi Raymundo and directed by Olivia Lamasan. It is a romance-drama film that will tackle love and regrets. It will come to theaters on February 2.

Men go through lots while looking for a perfect partner to settle down with in a relationship. Before meeting the one, men always encounter different girls each with different behaviors and ways of life. Since every man has a certain type of girl of his preference, it most times very hard to find your (one) in your date. Here are the most common types of the girls you are likely to encounter during your search to the one. This girl definitely knows where the good parties are and which clubs are the best in town. If you wish to accompany her, make sure you are okay with meeting and hanging out with a lot of people she knows (friends). If you are a type that spend evenings at home, you will have to compete with her social life. However, if you are a party animal too, you will never be bored with this girl because she always knows where the action is. This kind will never believe in letting a second man into her life and give him enough attention. Despite her age, she sticks to asking her father for help all the time in every situation where she needs support or help. She thinks there is no man who can take control of her life better than her father and at the end, the relationship will make you as a man – feel bad as she is most likely to spend more of her free time with her father. This is the type that calls her boyfriend a countless number of times during the day to find out if everything is alright. In being worried every time, she is always very attentive and caring However, most men usually run away from this type because they think they are too controlling. This one thinks that studying is the most important thing in life and will barely have enough time for anything else. You can have a really long and interesting conversation with this girl but only if she finds the time for it because she is literally fixated on her studies and takes additional classes and extracurricular. Breaking up the relationship will likely not be a serious problem for her because she always has something to distract her. This is the trendy, stylish, and they know everything about fashion type. They know what clothes to wear in order to attract other people’s attention and they are the ones who always look perfect. This one is quite different from the ‘Fancy’ type. The only thing they might have in common is beauty and getting a lot of attention from men. Most of the time, the guy who dates her doesn’t even understand why she chose him. A beautiful appearance is great but you may soon realize that you have nothing to talk about. Such a girl is always scared of being alone. She is afraid that her man might choose someone else or cheat on her with friends and collagues. She reads between the lines and can get angry any time she finds a reason. This is a girl that just love talking everything. She wants to tell you everything she knows about other people that are most often not nice. However, this type doesn’t wish evil on other people. A girl your mother will love Men usually feel really comfortable with such a girl and they might even think that she is the one. And it’s all great until she meets his mother. There is never a dull moment with these girls, because they are so emotional. And the relationship is actually never easy. It’s not difficult to get them to go somewhere, but at the same time, they often create drama even when there is no good reason for it. These couples may even start dating and breaking up several times. Though you might never get bored with this girl, you are likely not to be with her for so long because of the emotional outbursts. Who is the ‘One’? All men are different, just like women. So all men will have their own version of “the one” who is different from all the others. For one man she will be ‘the one,’ and for another she will be just a girl, like one of the types we described above. Meanwhile, ‘the one’ can be a girl who laughs at her boyfriend’s jokes, and he laughs at hers. She is someone who might have completely different taste in art, cinema, or music, but they still somehow have a lot in common. She is good with her boyfriend’s mother and his friends. She is not too jealous or emotional. And she is someone he deserves after his interesting path in life.

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Thanks, I was waiting for it with bated breath. Oh, first, I guess. I love how this was put together and hearing everyone's takes on the movie! I am basically with the everyone else in thinking this is a super fun movie that is very good and will hopefully hold up with time. If nothing else, I'm excited to see what's in store for the awesome new characters going forward, and I'm glad it all started out on a mostly good foot. Now to be intrigued what a Rian Johnson follow-up to this main story will look like! Thanks for the great podcast, I really enjoyed the way it was edited. Concerning C3POs red arm, JJ talked about in briefly in an interview with wired about a month ago:"Very quickly, it became an incredible advantage to have Rick dealing with the designers and artists, prepping the conceptual work based on our story meetings. Almost immediately, designs would start to roll in that gave shape to the ideas we were working on. Moments like Threepio’s arm came from the desire to, well, mark time.It’s almost like … [Unknown events have transpired …]Exactly. You know the moment when you reconnect with someone after years apart? You see the lines on their face, you think, oh, they’ve lived 10 years! Or when you see someone has a scar they didn’t have—physical or emotional—you recognize it. It lets you know it’s not two minutes later. It was important that Han Solo be Han Solo but not feel like he’s playing a 30-year-old dude. When you’re 70, you will have lived a different set of experiences. That has to be apparent in who he is. Harrison was required to bring a level of complexity that a 30-year-old Han wouldn’t be required to have."Here is a link to the complete interview: http://www.wired.com/2015/11/star-wars-force-awakens-jj-abrams-interview/ I'm listening and really enjoying the podcast! Love hearing everyone's input...Every time "it's been a while" is said on the podcast, I completely lose it and cannot stop laughing.Loved the Force Awakens... instead of saying "Chewie, we're home" Han should have said... "It's been a while". Sorry JB - I'm LOLing at the depth of your sadness... There's an undercurrent that runs throughout the Original Trilogy of a generational shift. The Empire is the old guard, and the Rebellion is new, young guard. They have a life ahead of them, and it feels by RotJ's end like the characters have found their course in life, have found their place.One of the most emotionally engaging elements of TFA is how those OT characters are treated. They did have their place, with Han and Leia together and Luke running a Jedi Academy, but the new guard (Ben) overthrew the old guard, and it threw them into disarray. The entire movie is framed around finding Luke, which in a greater sense is about all the characters regaining a sense of belonging (this includes Rey and Finn), and it's fueled not only by the audience's desire to see Luke, but by all the characters needing him.The film has a lot of great aspects, like a return to Kasdan's wonderful dialogue, a return to the OT's rustic visual aesthetic, great new characters, all that, but this is, I think, the movie's biggest strength. It keeps the generational storytelling in place, but also inverts it, and uses the audience's desire to reconnect with the OT's world and characters as the fuel for the story.I can't wait for Episode VIII: Jakku Holiday! Yeah, you nailed it. The way Han says something like, "Luke? Yeah, I knew Luke" just about made me cry. I think the most heartbroken I've ever heard an audience was the reveal that R2 had been in low-power mode because of Luke's absence :( I forgot to mention it on the show....but what was up with Kylo Ren punching his chest during the last lightsaber battle? Did he just watch Mark Wahlberg in Fear? Fear is the path to the Dark Side, after all Wasn't he hitting his side wound? I don't know why he was doing that, but I think that's what he was doing. You know those Dark Side freaks...he wasn't really punching his chest he was pounding on his wound...the pain probably gives him a little jolt of evil fuel. I saw it as him either trying to wake up the part of his body that had just been injured, or using the pain to motivate himself. I think he thought the pain would help him tap into the anger he needed to fully harness the dark side. That's how you jerk off in the Star Wars Universe. He's going to have to use a sick day then. I just got to the part of the podcast that made that hilarious. Watching him hurt himself strangely reminded me of Paul Bettany in The Da Vinci Code ;) I thought it was some kind of samurai thing. It was certainly strange, hopefully it gets talked about in a commentary track in the future This was one of my favorite details of a performance that I found to be great. Possible spoilers: I found it strange that the high profile (at least among nerds) Gwendoline Christie was cast to play a character who a. does very little, b. never removes her helmet, and c. presumably blew up with the Death Star 3.0 I suspect (hope) there's a lot more of her to come in future installments. or d) Sell toys.But I hope, and suspect, she'll be back. ADVICE: You HAVE to see it twice. Seriously. I've never changed my opinion on a movie so much with a second viewing. The writing is very old-fashioned in the sense that there are a lot of holes left for the audience to fill in that become much clearer upon a second viewing. So, if anyone has problems with it - see it again. Because after the second time, there's only ONE problem I have with it, when I originally had many. Honestly - it'll improve vastly. P.S. Seriously - character motivations, plot developments, etc., are made clearly to be much more organic and logical once the film has lived in your head for a couple of days and you see it again. I wanna get other peoples opinion on this and its a spoiler but I think everyone reading this probably has seen the movie so sorry if you haven't. Am I the only one that thinks killing Han was a bad idea? Let's be honest if Harrison Ford didn't hate the character does anybody think he would have been killed? I have a strong feeling that Ford told them that if he didn't die that he wouldn't do the movie. This is just my opinion but Harrison Ford is a prick and Star Wars fans should be more upset about it then it sounds like they are. I liked the scene a lot, it was one of the highlights of the movie for me. My problem with it is that we still don't know enough about Ben to grasp the weight of that scene. They're leaning on a sequel to develop it, which will work in the long run but right now it's frustrating. I did not have a problem with it at all. Ford has actually been quite upbeat and positive in the promotional tour that I don't think the old bitterness is really there any more. As opposed to Return of the Jedi, where I could feel he was phoning it in, he seemed to be enjoying himself in this film. Of course he's been upbeat he finally got what he always wanted! I believe if he hated doing this movie he would have palpably hated doing the press tour and you would have been able to tell in his performance (because it seems like you always can tell in his previous movies). I think that in shadowing the original SW plot points they needed an "Obi-Wan" to be killed and Ford didn't care if he came back or not...so this worked for both him and Abrams. Did you want Hans Solo (aka old man Ford) to be in Star Wars movies for the next 9 years? I thought he played him part brilliantly, being able to mostly keep up with the action, and bring an elder dimension to the film, while bridging the older series to the new ones.I don't think anyone, producers or fans alike, wanted Hans Solo to last beyond this movie. My only surprise was that he was such a big part of this one. I was questioning during the movie whether he would die, or just grow old (get written out), and when he went down without Chewwie, I immediately knew he was dying. William, I also think it's a bad idea. I suspect (and can only guess) that this is the only way Ford would agree to be in the movie, so they did what they had to do. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher have said that if Ford hadn't returned, they wouldn't have either. I'm guessing it was this or nothing. Still, the death has less meaning currently than any other death in Star Wars for me. It doesn't yet have the same story ramifications and effects of a Ben Kenobi or a Qui-Gon for me, it just feels kind of empty. I've struggled with it quite a bit. I didn't think it bothered me at first, but it really does. Heath I think that once everyone has calm down from the excitment of a new film and starts really thinking about the movie your gonna see more and more people bothered by the creative decision of his death. Also to the people that say "well how long do you expect the original cast to stick around they can't forever there old" I only think we will see the original cast up to episode 9 so that's 2 movies over the next 4 years so am I asking too much of Harrison to stick around just 2 more films? Actually I think Han's death really "works" in the story -- sad, shocking, and tragic in the most Shakespearian sense. It doesn't feel like a meaningless "twist" shoehorned into the story to accommodate anyone's request; it feels like the culmination of Han's arc. Back in ANH, it's necessary to believe "Han shot first" in the cantina for his eventual return to Luke's rescue to have resonance as redemption. In TFA, Han has returned to being more like the man he was in that cantina -- he's a smuggler, on his own, running from conflict, reluctant at first to help. He's alienated the woman he loves, removed himself from helping the Resistance -- he's no saint. It's a mistake to believe that Han "sacrificed himself" for Ben; it's not a sacrifice, he is betrayed. Kylo Ren chooses his words carefully (that is, the writers do) to mislead Han: "I know what I must do but I need your help." He's not expecting to die; he's expecting to save his son. Han's belief that he can get Ben back directly echoes Luke's "I know there is good in you" to Darth Vader. But Han's death is not his redemption. Han's desire to help his son, and his belief that he can help his son, are his redemption. His death is the price. It's an event that will set the course for the actions of all the other major players, so the stakes need to be high. We now have two movies to explore whether that price was worth it -- whether his death will be a catalyst for good or a triumph for evil -- and I think that's an interesting question. Beautifully said (as always), Jan, and I agree - it would have been a terrible story decision to NOT have Han go after his son in that moment and I found the whole scene very moving. Days later I'm still kind of in mourning for that character and that's never happened to me before. I hope to get there eventually. What I'm really interested in now is Leia's trajectory. She's lost her parents, her brother, her son, and now her son's father. She needs a gigantic spotlight in the next movie. Heath, I agree -- I'd love to see Leia in the spotlight! I don't know if I could take Leia's voice the whole film. She's definitely had one too many Deathsticks lol Jan, I saw it again today and I'm coming around to your point of view. It's hard to separate myself from the baggage I brought into the movie and what we know about Ford's feelings on the character, but I'm starting to feel like it has a purpose. I was hoping and expecting more of an immediate effect on the story's direction, but we're working in cycles here and the first films of these trilogies have to be an introduction. You're right, there are two more movies where we can explore the cost and ramifications of what happened in this film. Jan you put it so elegantly that you've helped me come to terms that Han's death will benefit the story.I thank you. :-) Well I just came back from it and listened to the podcast when I got home. A few thoughts1) I loved the blood from the stormtrooper. From that moment I was hooked. By the way, if you noticed throughout the movie it is clear there is a gap between the helmet and armor suit and Finn's hand reaches up there when he is holding his fellow stormtrooper2) I also saw it at a Regal theater and the trailers were far too many. Also, my girlfriend turned to me after about the 5th one and said "I feel like these are all the same movie"3) I am still not sure how I feel about the movie over all but I do know this- much better than the prequels. The new good guy characters were actually likable and had real personalities, something the prequels totally lacked. It felt like the same universe as the original trilogy as opposed to the prequels. The dialogue was far superior and the acting was as well (which may have had to do with the directing). I do agree that the plot lines are perhaps too familiar but it just didn't bother me that much. After the prequels it felt like a welcome relief4) One shot I absolutely loved was the Apocalypse Now shot of the TIE fighters One thing I thought of and may be obvious to everyone else one way or another- is 'Ben' named after Obi Wan? Love the podcast! Couple comments, one the first world War was the war to end all wars. Second, as jb said about the raid redemption guys consulting on the fight choreography, the bounty hunters (?)who show up on Hass freighter, one is mad dog from the raid and the elevator fight dude from merantu Awesome podcast - great to hear from almost everyone and if there was ever a movie deserving the format, this was it! I was disappointed for Heath that he didn't love it more, but yeah, for the most part I think I pretty much on the same page as everyone - far from flawless but definitely a good time at the movies! I'm coming around. I saw it again and was able to see it for the movie it is and not the one I wanted it to be. I still really miss the hand of the creator (George Lucas) in the story, especially since he's out talking about how this is not the story he conceived and gave to Disney, but something "for the fans." BUT--I liked it much more the second time. Gonna try to go back soon. How did your big marathon of the movies and Clone Wars viewing go? Glad to hear it! I kinda went in a blank slate - I really didn't know what to expect so maybe that was a good thing? I agree that it didn't feel like LUCAS'S Star Wars but did somehow feel very much like Star Wars if that makes sense. I'm guessing Lucas's version wouldn't have had me feeling quite so sad for the old characters and that could have been okay too (it's going to be hard to watch the OT knowing more fun adventures aren't in store for them) - I'm sure he's too classy to reveal what his ideas were but I'd love to know!Unfortunately my marathon got a little crammed at the end and I had to stick to what I read were the best eps of Seasons 4, 5 and 6 of The Clone Wars, but man, I really dig that show for the most part and it really fleshes out the Prequel Trilogy and makes me appreciate that era so much more. It was great to watch the OT for the first time in awhile and though I also found myself loving ANH more than I thought, I really agree with you about ROTJ - it kinda felt like my favourite this time around. Started Rebels last night and I've got a good feeling about it - you like? Yeah, I like Rebels quite a bit. That first season has an incredible arc...starts small and builds so much. Some episodes of season two have felt like complete throwaways, but some of them are insanely good! And the Kanan comic offers some good insight, too, if you ever want to check that out. Sweet - and yeah, I've heard good things about the Kanan comic - I'll add it to my wishlist! I want to support Heath's comments about missing the presence of George Lucas. I know exactly what he's talking about. For those of us who enjoyed the prequels, warts and all, world-building has become an important part of Star Wars. While it's true, Lucas' focus on interplanetary politics did come at the sacrifice of his characters and overall sense of adventure, he did a good job of expanding the mythology of Star Wars. That's almost completely absent from TFA. It's like JJ went in the total opposite direction. For most, that's probably OK. But for me, it was a little disappointing. The argument against this is that the original SW didn't have much world-building, so neither does this one. But, for better or worse, TFA is the seventh film in a franchise, and the next chapter in a story following a 30-year gap. Just a little explanation as to what's been going on in the universe would have been appreciated. Dorks like me are going to look it up on Wookiepedia, so not that big of a deal, but the movie still felt a little incomplete to me.Someone over on Birth.Movies.Death suggested that a revised opening scrawl probably could have solved a lot of those problems. I'm not going to attempt to replicate his rewritten version, but in summary, it included a sentence or two of explanation about the relationship between the First Order and Resistance (which aren't as Empire 2.0 and Rebellion 2.0 as the movie leads you to believe) and the general state of the galaxy before leaping into ... SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEE TFA ... "Luke Skywalker is missing." I think that would have gone a long way. Overall, though, it's a pretty great movie. I had minor quibbles, of course (my wife wanted to know how come they didn't just hide BB-8 instead of letting him roll around in the open, and I wanted to know why Leia hugged up on Rey at the end, considering they've never seen each other before), but I'm expecting some good things moving forward. This comment has been removed by the author. You've really hit on what I'm feeling. For instance, I don't understand how the Jedi and Luke Skywalker can already be myths? The Clone Wars were fought all across the galaxy a mere 50 years before this movie. Even if there were no media or news outlets in Star Wars (those things have been established), shouldn't there be people who lived through that to carry on the story of the soldiers and the Jedi? You can say no one knew about Luke's heroic deeds, but EVERYONE knew about the Clone Wars, of which the Jedi played a very public role. In the end, this movie is a strong reaction against the Prequels, and it has been embraced for being so. It's the movie Disney needed to make to keep Star Wars alive and bring the lapsed fans back into the fold. But yeah, I miss the finer details of this world. This film is a heck of a ride, and I am closer to loving it every day, but I miss the touch of this world's creator. It's so strange to me that George Lucas is still alive, yet we have Star Wars that he wasn't a part of. That he offered his services and his advice, and they said "no thanks." Saying No to George is very strange, you dont have to do as he says but you should certainly listen to his thoughts... What have you got to lose? And I would argue that it's not Lucas' ideas that fail him, but his execution. Great podcast and a great movie! I had a great time seeing this one last Thursday night. I knew that the crowd I was with would be good when they boo'd the Independence Day 2 trailer. I thought the characters were fantastic, the story was interesting and not as held back as I expected, and the action was entertaining and not mindless CGI displays. ------------(SPOILERS)---------------I actually liked how Han was handled in the movie. His involvement and death gave greater emotion and life to the character in this movie and the original trilogy. I liked Kylo and the Hitler general guy. I really hope that the chrome trooper plays a greater part in the next movie because she looked awesome and interesting in the two scenes she was in. The only character I had a problem with was the Mega Mind villain character that Andy Serkis played. I agree with what was said on the podcast that the whole villain plot would have been more interesting if Kylo and General Hitler weren't answering to another Emperor dude. Him and the lame super death star were the biggest problems I had in a film that I found to be a very pleasant surprise. Really have to give them props for setting up a new universe that didn't have a ton of obvious and annoying world-building. I'm actually really excited for more Star Wars in the future. Ive avoided the podcast to see the film first. I saw it tonight, this may of come up already but my early thoughts as I need to think on this more are just one main quibble! (Call out to JB) I really hated Kylo once he took the mask off, He did not look mean, his hair was too pretty, he didn't have any scars, I wasent scared or intimidated at all, he actually made me scratch my head, just some early thoughts, lots of good to say too but Kylo rubbed me the wrong way I struggled with that initially too. I made peace with myself by remembering the fact that this dude is trying so hard to be someone he's not. Being a pretty boy when he's trying to be a badass is just another "fuck you" to his ambitions of being Darth Vader. He's not really as badass as he thinks. Maybe he's just a coward that puts on the mask to feel cool. Yeah that makes sense, kinda a coward hiding behind a mask pretending to be tougher, im sure in time I will come to terms with it but watching it the first time is was my only real quibble, and the cinema dident turn it up loud enough but that's a side issue, I did some research and there is only one cinema in the Uk showing the film on IMAX 2D on IMAX 15/70mm and it is 200 miles away ;( Damn that sucks. I'm toying with the idea of going to IMAX 3D. Thanks for your thoughts Patrick, they have been on my mind all day and I have come to terms with how Kylo looks and it is right, its funny how you need to sit on these things to let them feel right This movie made me so happy. I had some faith in Abrams due to his great take on Star Trek, but you never know from the 50/50 track record of the Star War series. As a mom with a daughter who loves Star Wars, I'm so happy there is a character like Rey for her to look up to as she grows up continuing to watch these movies. Of course Leia is great but Rey's sense of her own agency in this movie made her a great icon. The whole cast is stellar, they seemed to all been picked from independent movies with in which they had great performances to really carry this movie and the characters. It truly made all the difference. I do believe this is supposed to be cyclical with the first one, it's going to take another viewing to see if that's a good or bad thing (I was too entranced the first time to care). I plan to go see it again in IMAX and I'm excited to listen to the podcast again with it fresh in my brain! The movie, and the podcast, were well worth the wait. JB's Wife needs to have her own podcast. Every time JB says "my wife suggested that..." you know it is going to be something insightful. Yep, Ive been saying for ages we need more Jan if she can take the time away from her amazing poem writings... I feel bad, I feel like a bad Star Wars Fan and a bad Movie Fan. I tried, I really did, but I did not like this movie at all. It felt totally soulless to me. It felt like a ton of "Look at this! Now look at this!"This guy hates killing, he must escape and he will kill anyone who stands in his way. These two guys have shared about 90 seconds of screen time, they are best friends now, these two people traveled together off screen, he's now a father figure. Lets hug the girl who I have never met and know nothing about because my husband died and totally ignore his best friend, (he's busy looking after his new best friend anyway). Droid, Please!... DROID, PLEASE? Wow. Was there any scene that was more than 3 or 4 minutes? It's like they were terrified of anyone getting bored, so nothing was allowed to sit, marinate, develop.Cant wait to read the "after the hype is gone" reviews of this. I'm not even convinced it will stand up to Phantom Menace. This whole podcast was useless. Not once did anyone say how many stars they gave it!In all seriousness though, I've seen the movie twice now and I loved it both times. Loved the podcast too. I doubt there's anything original I could say at this point. You should see it. I give it 60 portions. Very minor point that I bring up solely because I haven't heard/seen anyone mention it: did anyone else find it really odd how Han and Leia kept referring to Kylo Ren as "our son" like 8 times instead of saying his name? At that point in the film, Snoke had already said the "your father, Han Solo" line, so they weren't hiding a plot twist. I think it's only done that way so that Han can yell "Ben!!!" on the bridge and reveal that he's actually named after Obi-Wan, which isn't a bad time to reveal it necessarily, but it made the Han-Leia discussion scene have really odd dialogue I thought. My biggest complaint is that it didn't really feel like the movie advanced the Star Wars mythology. Where is the philosophy? Where is the discussion of what it means to be a Jedi? And no new ships? While the movie was fun, it just wasn't very imaginative and I feel like the most interesting parts of the movie are things that happened offscreen (the rise of Kylo/The First Order/Snoke) Thank you for sharing these exciting animated filmsslither io

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Call for Papers: deadline for submission of abstracts: 15th January 2018. Colour in Context Symposium, University of Bristol. Friday 23rd March 2018. Key note speaker: Professor Lynda Nead, Birkbeck. Call for Papers: Colour – its specific hues, meanings and perception – are a contentious issue in the study of film. From the history of its technologies and the production of a ‘natural colour’ image to its association with all that is artificial and unreal, the interpretation of colour has been closely linked to its cultural, social and historical contexts. Colour in Context is a one-day interdisciplinary symposium and offers a space in which to discuss the diverse ways in which filmmakers and artists have used colour (and the strategy of its absence) as a technique of cinematic expression as well as those who have made a subversive use of colour that is intended to disrupt cinematic forms of representation in a range of cultural, social or historical contexts. We welcome papers on the specificities of colour and its contradictions in a range of cultural, social or historical contexts. Topics for consideration include, but are not limited to: - Colour in the context of a specific theory or work of a theorist/ philosopher. - Colour and its contradictions, a context in which colour deviates from the expected. - Cultural and historical contexts of colour in cinema. - The use of colour/ lighting in exhibition and gallery spaces. - Colour technologies and design: Gasparcolor, Dufaycolour, classic Technicolor to digital media. - Questions of colour in film archives and their conservation projects. - Colour and genre: science fiction, non-fiction, melodrama, travel films, musicals and /or horror. - Colour context and perception. - Colour and textual analysis: in a genre and in the context of this text. To submit an abstract, please send the following details – name, affiliation, abstract (200 words) and short biographical notes – to Dr Liz Watkins firstname.lastname@example.org no later than the deadline: 15th January 2018. The Colour in Context symposium is funded by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies. The symposium is organized by the Special Interest Group on Colour and Film. Symposium convenors: Liz Watkins and Sarah Street. Screening: The Colour in Context Symposium is organised in conjunction with a screening and workshop event about Some People (Clive Donner, 1962) at the Watershed, Bristol 24th March 2018. The screening is organized by the AHRC-funded project The Eastmancolor Revolution and British Cinema, 1955-85, which is based at the Universities of Bristol and East Anglia. Dr Elizabeth Watkins, University of Leeds. Gesture and Film: Signalling New Critical Perspectives (Routledge 2017). ‘Don’t Look Now: Transience and Text’, Screen (2015), vol.56, no.4: 436-449. Color and the Moving Image (Routledge 2013). Co-convenor: BAFTSS Special Interest Group on Colour and Film https://colourandfilm.wordpress.com

In the early 90s, I was working in a video store in Bozeman, Montana. The store stocked one or two Something Weird titles and once I became manager and the store buyer, I made sure to put some of my meager VHS budget aside each month to get a few more. They didn’t necessarily show a lot of return on the investment but they certainly helped enhance our reputation as the video store with titles that nobody else in town had. It was probably the first job I ever liked. I remember poring over Something Weird’s mail-order catalog, circling potential titles and marveling at the fact that somebody was paying me to do so. In some ways, VHS was kind of the perfect format for Something Weird but they made the transition to DVD beautifully. The company signed a distribution deal with Image Entertainment, giving the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis (whose 1967 movie Something Weird gave the company both its name and its logo), Doris Wishman, Andy Milligan and many others a higher profile than they’d ever enjoyed before. I remember a giddy thrill seeing an entire section devoted to Something Weird in Virgin Records during the height of the DVD boom. More recently, they’ve expanded into Blu-ray, releasing such titles as Frank Henenlotter’s BasketCase, Lewis’ Blood Trilogy and The Wizard of Gore and The Gore Gore Girls, and the films of Chesty Morgan. In my wildest dreams, I never thought we’d see these movies released in high-def but here they are, thanks to the perseverance and passion of Something Weird. The movies that Something Weird releases are, by and large, not masterpieces of world cinema. But they are significant and vitally important to fans who want a more complete idea of where the movies have been. They’re rough, crude, independent movies made by some of the most idiosyncratic people ever to pick up a camera. Something Weird proves the old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Even if you’re never compelled to watch movies like The Body Beneath or Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman, you should know they exist and are out there (in every sense of the phrase) should you change your mind. Something Weird Video soldiers on from its home base of Seattle, with its own streaming channel and hopefully many more DVD and Blu-ray releases to come. But we have Mike Vraney to thank for his boundless enthusiasm and sheer love of cult cinema for making the home entertainment industry a more interesting place. On behalf of movie lovers everywhere, thank you, Mike, and rest in peace. May the next leg of your journey bring you something even weirder. - Dr. Adam Jahnke

The False Myths and True Genius of Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1897 was an eventful year for music in Vienna: Johannes Brahms died and Gustav Mahler took over the Imperial Opera; the anti-Semitic Karl Lueger was elected mayor; the Eleven-year-old Ernst Toch decided to become a composer and in Brno, or Brünn as the Moravian capital was known, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born. This virtual exhibition is less about the chronology of his life, and more about his position in the lives of Music lovers. It will attempt to shore up areas where he made important contributions, while challenging myths that have begun to take hold. This virtual exhibition on Korngold is partly based on the exhibition held in Vienna’s Jewish Museum called ‘The Korngolds’ and it dealt as much with Erich Wolfgang’s father Julius, as it did with the composer himself. Korngold performs the Largo from his Sonata no. 2 – composed at the age of 12 It was hardly possible to separate the two: the father was Julius Korngold, and principal critic of Vienna’s prestigious Neue Freie Presse – the New Free Press. He was thus the most influential of music commentators writing in German. He was intellectually sharper than his predecessor, Richard Wagner’s bête noir, Eduard Hanslick, who was immortalized as Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger. Yet with music’s departure from tonality in the early 20th century, Julius Korngold’s battle lines were also more clearly drawn than the often abstract Hegelian arguments used against Wagner in order to promote Johannes Brahms and his circle. By the late 1890s, the common view was held that it was impossible to govern the Austro-Hungarian Empire without the support of Die Neue Freie Presse. It was the progressive voice of 19th century Liberalism which was defined by strident anti-clericalism, meaning it opposed power accorded to church leaders, while promoting both a Mancunian liberation of financial and social capital. This meant it supported ever increasing enfranchisement and the equality of all of the diverse communities and cultures within the Empire. The journalists and writers who were associated with the Neue Freie Presse were a nomenclature of the greatest writers of the day and included the widest possible spectrum from Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist Movement, to Winston Churchill. Music, arts, and social commentary was placed on the bottom of the front page in a section known as the Feuilleton. A Feuilleton could carry on for two, three and sometimes four pages. One may wonder what’s not to like about a popular and influential paper offering such extensive coverage of the arts. Well, the satirist and notorious commentator on the foibles of all politicians, Karl Kraus, despised the Neue Freie Presse as pernicious, venal, preening and too powerful. In Die Fackel – the Torch, his own satirical publication, he poked savagely at its smug self-confidence and exalted pronouncements. And in truth, the idealistic dreams of 19th century Liberalism with its free markets and unfettered capital had long turned sour. Manchester Liberalism had indeed created a large and powerful middle class that had entered politics and could challenge the entitlements of the aristocracy; but it still left the vast majority of the population as members of an oceanic under-class with negligible access to the benefits a prosperous society should provide. The ‘filter-down’ promises remained unfulfilled and both urban and rural labourers lived as little more than indentured workers at the mercy of whatever kindnesses their bosses may (or may not) have been inclined to provide. What does this background information have to do with Korngold the composer? The answer to this is relatively simple: one of the prime beneficiaries of Austrian Liberalism was the Empire’s Jewish population. It was, in general, an ambitiously aspirational demographic and out of its communities came an abundance of high-achievers in nearly all professions with the exception of the military and the civil service. In just over 60 years, Jews went from total exclusion and isolation to professional dominance in many sectors. The Austrian census of March 22, 1934 informs us that over 50% of all of Vienna’s doctors; 75% of its bankers; 96% of its marketing agencies and 85% of its lawyers were Jewish. They also dominated subsidiary and often unrelated industries, such as electronic sales (80%); textiles (73%); sweet production (70%); spirits (73%); furniture sales and manufacture (85%) and somewhat unexpectedly, furriers (67%). Nearly all of the journalists working on the Neue Freie Presse, as well as Karl Kraus himself had been formerly part of this Austro-Hungarian Jewish demographic. Many converted to Christianity, most remained traditional but ‘assimilated’ while many others, such as the Korngolds, were inclined to dismiss confessional adherence to the point of neither leaving, nor converting and simply ignoring what they saw as a personal expression of a redundant religious practice. They joined neither church nor synagogue; nor did they go to the bother of officially resigning from the faith-community to which the highly bureaucratic Austrian civil service had registered them. If official records described them as ‘Israelis’ or ‘Mosaic’, there is equally no record of them belonging to any of the city’s 22 synagogues. Religion was ‘personal’ and it was their personal decision to ignore it altogether and not even to accord it the dignity of being abandoned. Korngold composed his ‘Passover Psalm’ as a commission for the Rabbi to Los Angeles’s Central European community, Jakob Sondering – with his’ Passover Psalm’ composed in 1941, he joined other emigres with Sonderling commissions such as Erich Zeisl, Ernst Toch and Arnold Schoenberg. This is a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, Riccardo Chailly, The Slovak Choir and soloists Urbanová, Beňačková, Bogachov, Novák 19th century Liberalism was therefore the unwitting midwife of both Marxism and virulent anti-Semitism, with the two standing in an often complex and highly inter-connected relationship. Many prominent Marxists were Jews, as indeed, Marx himself. But much of the newly created ‘Money-Aristocracy’, proprietors of banks and industry, were also freshly emancipated Jews. With Darwinism thrown into the mix, Judaism ceased to be a religious confession and became a ‘race’ that needed to be placed within the evolutionary process. This led to the murderous belief in ‘survival of the fittest’, an idea extrapolated from Darwin by Herbert Spencer, which in turn was understood to mean a dominant race must be the master race over so-called ‘inferior’ races. Thus the aspirations of Jews to do well and succeed became a ‘racial’ attribute, and where ‘races’ stood on the evolutionary trajectory depended on who was conducting the ‘research’. Nothing was empirical, everything was anecdotal and naturally, none of it had anything to do with Darwin. It was the bigoted extrapolations of high-profile ‘amateur’ thinkers such as Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau, Richard Wagner and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, mixed with heavy dollops of pseudo- and misunderstood science. And it was this world into which Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born. The Orel Foundation offers a very comprehensive biography of Erich Korngold that allows this page to be more excursive in its treatment. I hope to contextualise the life and music of Korngold, so that a firmer understanding can be reached of what he contributed and why so many 20th century music commentators disregarded him. His creative genius, and the professional decisions he took throughout his life were in response to a combination of psychological abuse from his immediate family, the societies in which he lived and the politics of the day. There are two very different and very subjective memoirs written by the two individuals who were closest to Erich Wolfgang Korngold during his lifetime. The longer of the two memoirs is by his father Julius, the shorter, but by no means less substantial, by his wife Luise, known as Luzi. They present two pictures of the composer that differ in detail, but agree on certain fundamentals. The credence that can be accorded to them depends on how the conflicting agendas of the two chronicles can be understood. Julius despised his daughter-in-law Luzi, while Luzi expresses a carefully worded distance from Julius. If Julius was jealous of Luzi’s affections, Luzi never expresses less than cautious respect for the father. The truth lies in the personal correspondence between all parties, reflecting a deeply disturbed relationship between father and son during a deeply disturbing chapter of history. In the interest of the narrative, we’ll refer to the father as Julius and despite the view that his son’s proper name was ‘Erich Wolfgang’, his wife refers to him throughout as ‘Erich’, which I shall do for the remainder of this story when differentiating him from Julius. Erich was Born in Brünn, (now Brno), on May 29th 1897, the second son of Julius Korngold and Josefine née Witrowsky. Already this fact is loaded with complex familial issues. The older brother of Erich was named Hans Robert, with the middle names of both boys intended as homage to two of Julius’s favourite composers: Robert Schumann and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. With the birth of Erich, Hans Robert simply ceased to retain any significance, and the degree to which he is written out of the family’s story is shocking. It raises the question of whether the family’s dysfunction was the root of Erich’s genius, or Erich’s genius the cause of the family’s dysfunction. In all likelihood, it was a mixture of the two. Guy Wagner’s excellent biography of Erich, Musik ist Musik (Matthes & Seitz, 2008), delves deep into the Korngold family tree and offers important and potentially revealing background. The spirit-trading fathers of both Julius Korngold and Gustav Mahler came from the Czech province of Moravia. Both were Jewish and both belonged to the lower-middle class, though in Jewish society, they belonged to a financially secure sector that allowed their children to fulfil their social and professional aspirations. Being a seller of Schnapps was obviously not the same as being a doctor or a lawyer, but it wasn’t the same as being a cobbler, tinker, or livestock trader. There was sufficient money in the extended families, or their contacts, to pay for university or conservatory education. In the UK, the most elite schools take ‘scholarship pupils’, bright children from families without the means to pay tuition fees. These children are housed apart, meaning the children from wealthy or aristocratic families can treat ‘scholarship pupils’ as objects of ridicule. It’s dangerous to make generalisations, but one imagines that a similar process took place with the first generation of gifted Jews allowed into the Empire’s elite institutions. No doubt most would consolidate their intellectual gifts and go forward in their chosen fields, while others spent a lifetime wondering if they truly had any entitlement to their social and professional success. There are only vague hints of such insecurities in Mahler’s biography. Julius Korngold, on the other hand, born in the same year, under almost identical circumstances as Mahler, mirrors near textbook degrees of social insecurity, demonstrated by obsessive and destructive over-compensation. His training and brilliance as a lawyer at Vienna’s University along with his training and brilliance as a musician, (studying with Anton Bruckner), provided him with a voice of thundering authority. With the arrival of a musical genius in the family, Julius’s object of love became neurotically self-obsessed and exclusive. His elder son for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist. He was at best a bright boy, but no match for his younger brother and therefore not worthy of notice. Even if Hans Robert made it into one of the liberal professions, he would never provide the Korngolds with the stamp of entitlement promised by Erich’s brilliance. Guy Wagner has gone through the correspondence of Hans Robert, and I too have read many of the letters addressed to Erich and held at the Library of Congress or at Vienna’s National Library. He was bright, articulate and scrupulous in his grammar, writing with startling insight and perception. That such a young man was simply thrown onto the family trash heap so that more room could accommodate Erich, shows the complexity of Erich’s domestic life. Indeed, there were other notable Korngolds, such as Julius Korngold’s younger half-brother, a successful actor who appeared under the name of Eduard Kornau (1863-1939). The themes that resonate throughout Korngold’s life are particularly relevant today as they represent the fight for the very purpose of music. Is it elite, or is it populist? Is it high art or easy entertainment? Is it merely an application, like the use of colour in cinema or is it l’art pour l’art – a thing of purity and a bridge between the listener and a higher state? Is music a cultural cornerstone of European civilisation or is it merely ‘disposable’? Julius Korngold entered the scene just as the tensions between the German ‘New School’ of Liszt and Wagner and the ‘Old School’ of Mendelssohn and Brahms were settling down into peaceful co-existence. As a result, music for this generation became a synthesis of the two ideals: it represented the purity of beauty for its own sake (Old School) while embracing the redemptive metaphysics of the New School. To Julius’s generation in Habsburg Vienna, music was the most important cultural aspect of existence and not to be toyed with. Paradoxically, one finds an identical viewpoint expressed by Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School. The lines had been drawn. The greatest question mark in Erich’s biography is the manner in which he started to compose. This appears to remain inexplicable and unique in the study of precociously gifted children. Mozart and Mendelssohn were able to inject their youthful brilliance into the ambient music of the day. Korngold appears to have inhabited his own harmonic environment from his earliest years. According to Julius, his first works did not display the influence of the music he would have been exposed to at home. Yet Julius tells us that as a critic, he thumped out on the piano works he was meant to review for the paper. And according to Julius, the most ‘progressive’ of these that young Erich might have heard would have been by Eugen D’Albert. In a pre-gramophone and pre-broadcast age, it’s very difficult to know what could have generated the musical ideas in the youngster’s brain. His father was a great admirer of Mahler and it seems unlikely that Julius did not frequently play through the scores publishers would have provided. Nor was it out of the question for Julius to have played through Elektra or Salome. Indeed, years later, Luzi tells us that Erich had heard the music of Richard Strauss since ‘suckling at his mother’s breast’ and was able to play Elektra from beginning to end on the piano from memory. There must also have been performances of Zemlinsky’s Es War Einmal, and any number of Wagner operas. The expanded harmonies, wild structures and crashing dissonances would therefore have been familiar to young Erich. The question of what Korngold’s infant ear latched on to is perhaps more easily addressed than Julius, and posterity would have us believe. Julius, as Vienna’s leading music journalist was too good a musician and too conscientious a critic not to have played through all the scores publishers sent, while Julius being Julius most likely dismissed the lot. It wouldn’t have stopped his precocious son keeping a very open ear. Julius exposed Erich to far more music than he realised or was prepared to admit. He was too self-absorbed to understand that his personal preference for one composer over another would have no influence on what Erich was taking on board. The myth was launched when Julius had several works published privately and sent to notable conductors and composers throughout Germany, Austria and Hungary but not resident in Vienna. In his memoirs, he claims that he sent them without identifying the composer and offering no information beyond the fact that he was a young boy. We now know this claim is untrue as the name of the composer is clearly printed on the scores and the correspondence refers to Julius’s son. Inevitably their reaction was one of dismay. How could a youngster compose works in a harmonic language that he ordinarily could not have heard? Uniquely, Erich as Julius’s son, was familiar with everything that was happening in contemporary music. How calculating Julius was in sending out his private publications can never be known, but the inevitable happened and it was leaked to the press via an article in Budapest’s Pester Lloyd and eventually led to Felix Weingartner organising Erich’s first public Performance, which took place as the Emperor’s Name-Day Gala at the Imperial Opera, though Guy Wagner informs us that Franz Joseph did not show up until the second half of the programme, thus missing Erich’s pantomime Der Schneemann. Prelude and Serenade from Korngold‘s ‘Schneemann’ Max Schonherr conducts Austria’s Radio Orchestra That Mahler was impressed when he heard the boy’s cantata Gold in 1906 is also well documented by Julius, Luzi and indeed Alma Mahler. Mahler, however, would have been more aware than most of the musical influences circulating in the Korngold household. He made the sensible observation that Erich was indeed uniquely gifted, but needed to work with Zemlinsky rather than the dry-as-bones theoretician Robert Fuchs at Vienna’s Conservatory, who was Mahler’s own teacher. This recommendation by Mahler must have come as something of a shock to Julius who had never passed on an opportunity to trash Zemlinsky whenever offered the chance. He was not only the brother-in-law of Schoenberg, the maddest of all Viennese composers in Julius’s view, but he was too inclined, according to Julius, to sacrifice ‘old-fashioned melody’ on the diffusive French altar of Impressionism. Korngold performs his ‘Epilogue’ from Märchenbilder – Fairytale Pictures Both Erich and Zemlinsky would later write about the years 1907 to 1911. It was a period when Erich would compose a good deal of piano music, including two sonatas, two suites with one based on fairy tales and the other on Don Quixote along with a fourhanded arrangement of his pantomime Der Schneemann and his ambitious Op. 1 Piano Trio. Their separate accounts of working together are fascinating, as both men attempt to address the myths that had started to distort Korngold and the reception of his music. Zemlinsky writes that Erich admired Puccini to a point of near obsession while Korngold gives us a sober narrative of Zemlinsky directing his musical gifts along a non-disciplinarian route, and improving his piano technique. The true phenomenon of the young Erich Korngold, often lost in the breathless dazzle of youthful precociousness, was his ability to develop a unique musical language despite the attempts of Julius ‘protecting’ him against the encroaching evils of modernism. It was this blindness on the part of Julius that was the cause of his ‘disturbed concern’ at the harmonic advancement of Erich’s earliest compositions. When colleagues outside Vienna expressed similar surprise, Julius simply accepted that the genius of Erich transcended all previous prodigies, while at the same time secretly acknowledging his own unwitting role in the shaping of his son’s Musical biotope. This brings us to the other myth surrounding the complexities of the relationship between Julius and Erich. The idea that Julius used his position and influence to advance Erich’s career is far off the mark. There are indeed documented cases of Julius politicking behind the scenes, and musicians who for one reason or another did not promote Erich, being savaged by Julius in the press. But was it coincidence as Julius always protested? Some of the lawsuits were dismissed while others were settled out of court. The truth, however, is that Julius’s musical agenda was far more political than merely promoting his son. If the boy Erich was ‘obsessed’ by Puccini, Julius was ‘obsessed’ by Mahler, and Mahler was by far the most divisive figure in Vienna. Entire battalions of journalists ranged against him, with Julius heading up the equally strong coterie of journalistic supporters. Again, the true genius of Erich was ignored or lost in the scuffle. To Julius, nobody could possibly come after Mahler following his departure in 1907. He lost no opportunity to denigrate his successor at the opera, Felix Weingartner. The fact that Weingartner was one of the first important musicians to take up the music of Erich was of no consequence to Julius. Indeed, he saw it as a plot by Weingartner to curry favour and attacked him with added determination. The fourteen-year-old Erich, watching events unfold at home and in public, in the teeth of his father’s opposition, dedicated his Sinfonietta to Weingartner, who premiered the work in Vienna on November 30th, 1913. Julius’s blind devotion to Mahler was a disruptive influence in the life and development of Erich. Obviously only the very finest musicians could possibly be considered to fill positions previously occupied by Mahler. The calamity of his departure from Vienna in 1907 was bad enough, but with Mahler’s death in 1911, it transformed Julius into a merciless avenging angel. The tragedy for Erich was that musicians who came after Mahler were the same who took up his music, only to find themselves attacked in the press by Julius. Weingartner was the first, but Richard Strauss suffered an identical fate. Both were hounded from Vienna’s opera following relentless attacks by Julius. It was all Erich could do to remain loyal to his father while expressing appreciation for the support he was receiving from some of the greatest musicians of the age. The only conductor Julius was prepared to countenance was Bruno Walter, a Mahler protégé and a neighbour in their Theobaldgasse apartment block. Walter would perform Korngold’s Op.1 Piano Trio and remained a devoted, though not always uncritical supporter. In later years, he distanced himself from his Berlin run of Erich’s opera Das Wunder der Heliane, and later in America, he claimed he was too old and frail to take on Erich’s Symphony in F-Sharp, joining a raft of other musicians and conductors who distanced themselves from any association they previously enjoyed with Korngold. The years 1910 to 1913 saw Erich composing some of his most progressive and inventive music. Arthur Nikisch performed his Op. 4 Schauspiel Ouvertüre in Berlin; Weingartner conducted his Sinfonietta in Vienna; Artur Schnabel performed his massive second Piano Sonata in Berlin and was joined later by Carl Flesch for Korngold’s Violin Sonata Op.6. Yet in many ways, the most telling of performances was the Viennese premiere of Erich’s Op. 1 Piano Trio with Arnold Rosé, Friedrich Buxbaum and Bruno Walter on the piano. Rosé was Mahler’s brother-in-law, (and leader of the Vienna Philharmonic), Walter was Mahler’s protégé and the performance took place as a subscription event under the auspices of Der Merker, a journal edited by Mahler devotee Richard Specht. The attacks directed at the performance had less to do with the qualities of the work, (it had already been performed and well received in Munich and New York) and more to do with the perception of Mahler groupies gathering to plot against his recently enforced removal from the opera. It was to become a frequent event in Erich’s youth: his qualities as composer or conductor would be judged in light of the individual writer’s relationship to Julius. This was almost always negative. Julius was not a team player and post-Mahler, avoided all contact with fellow journalists. He would suffer for it, and crucially, so would Erich. Close family friend Bruno Walter, went on in 1916 to conduct the premiere in Munich of Erich’s two one-act operas Der Ring des Polykrates and Violanta, followed by repeat performances in Vienna shortly afterwards with the singers Selma Kurz, Alfred Piccaver and Maria Jeritza. It was the best the house could offer and indicates the degree of support and interest in the young composer, though Julius of course was convinced that preferential treatment of his son was only a ruse in order to win over the powerful father. Even if the success could not be denied, Julius’s paranoia and deep suspicions would continue to poison Erich’s support by important artists. Indeed, in Julius’s fevered imagination, he saw Erich’s genius as a useful means of thwarting calculating attempts by his enemies to destroy his position within Vienna’s music and journalist establishment. Overture to ‘Violanta’ conducted by Jascha Horenstein Attempts to have Erich exempted from military duty came to nothing, despite string pulling from the father. Only the later manipulation of a recruitment doctor saved him from the Front. No mention is made of any interest or attempts to keep Hans Robert safe. Erich ended up composing, conducting and arranging music for his regiment and was kept out of harm’s way, allowing him to compose his sextet, his music to the Burgtheater’s production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Above all, he began work on his opera Die tote Stadt. The teenage Erich had already noticed the lovely Luzi Sonnenthal, and though Julius writes that Erich had been so protected that he did not leave the house by himself until he was nineteen, it’s quite clear from Luzi’s memoirs that this is pure fabrication by Julius. At this point, two different pictures of Erich start to emerge. We have the dutiful and ever-faithful son Erich, always careful to obey the wisdom of his father, and we have the infatuated Erich who connives to spend as much time out of the house as possible. Korngold’s private recording from Los Angeles of himself and the violinist Toscha Seidel performing the Intermezzo from ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ If Julius’s generation continued to feel the restrictions of Viennese society, Erich’s was far more liberated and carefree, circulating in wealthy, talented Jewish circles that created a parallel social universe to haut bourgeois non-Jewish Vienna. The writer Hilde Spiel reveals a Jewish apartheid that dominated wealthy Viennese society. Even converted Jews remained excluded from non-Jewish, circles of debutantes and university fraternities. Families such as the Gallias, the Wittgensteins and others who had been practicing Christians for several generations generally ended up marrying converted or non-converted Jews. In her memoirs, Spiel, whose family converted, and who later married Peter de Mendelssohn, describes similar social scenes as Luzi Sonnenthal. Evenings at the spacious Duschnitz Villa demonstrated total indifference to any perception of social exclusion. Indeed, they were quite convinced that their circle of friends was wittier, brighter and more capable than any presumed social superiors. They showed no desire or inclination to spend evenings with debutantes or drinking with fraternity students. Cross-fertilisation was rare and the city was still raising eyebrows at the marriage of Alma Schindler and Gustav Mahler. Alma, the daughter of artist Emil Schindler, was an example of an independent spirited, talented woman who moved easily in Jewish circles. She felt more at home in the salon of socialite Berta Zuckerkandl, where she and Mahler met, than in the stuffy homes of Vienna’s non-Jewish bourgeoisie. But apartheid worked in both directions, and Julius, despite his utter disdain of religion, vents his fury at Richard Strauss for suggesting he was only interested in promoting ‘fellow Israelites’, as Jews were euphemistically called. It was certainly true that Mahler, Schnabel, Selma Kurz, Richard Tauber and Bruno Walter suffered only the rarest and mildest of occasional journalistic rebukes from Julius though he would have defended himself by mentioning the many non-Jewish musicians he appreciated or the high-profile Jewish musicians he clearly loathed. These would have included Arnold Schoenberg, Egon Wellesz, Franz Schreker or the pianist Moritz Rosenthal, who thanks to reviews by Julius, brought charges of defamation against Die Neue Freie Presse. It didn’t matter. To Weingartner, Strauss and their various supporters, it appeared that Julius had an agenda ‘based on race’. Anti-Semitism was too ingrained in Catholic bourgeois Vienna to welcome without qualification the Jewish talent making positive contributions in every sector of local life. Luzi, Erich’s wife, was born into thespian aristocracy. Her grandfather was Adolf von Sonnenthal, Vienna’s most popular classical actor, dandy, salon-tiger and social trend-setter. He was also one of the first Jews to be ennobled by the Emperor Franz Joseph following the emancipation constitution of December 1867. Luzi’s sister Helene was a member of Max Reinhardt’s ensemble, and Luzi herself had acted in one or two films that in today’s jargon would probably be called ‘X-rated’, though she never went as far as fellow Jewish Viennese actress Hedy Kiessler, soon to be re-named Hedy Lamarr, in the film Ecstasy, offering full frontal nudity. Like Lamarr’s future husband, Friedrich Mandl, the Korngolds did what they could to suppress the film The Venetian Courtesan, also called Venetian Love Revenge. By today’s standards, the film is harmless, but at the time it caused Julius such concern that he goes out of his way not to mention it in his memoirs. Revealingly, neither does Luzi. Julius does concede that Luzi was a very gifted pianist. Tapes in the private recording archive of Erich Korngold, still held by his grandson, reveal Chopin playing of a remarkably high order with fluid, clearly articulated technique, rhythmic discipline and rapid, even passage playing. Later, she would rehearse singers in many of Erich’s works, often playing from memory. Like Alma Mahler, she was the thwarted, talented professional who gave up all to support a composing husband. Unlike Alma, she seemed less resentful, and Erich was inclined to accept her support whenever necessary. Liebesbriefchen – billet-doux, from ‘Einfache Lieder’ op. 9: Gigi Mitchell-Velasco, Bruckner Orchester Linz, cond. Caspar Richter The same could not be said of Julius who resented Luzi’s presence from the first moment. He remarks darkly that it was she who brought Erich to cinema, as if anyone of Erich’s generation could have avoided it. Her beauty and talent were so natural and unselfconscious that it seemed simultaneously to draw out the best in Erich and the worst in Julius. It seems incredible that Erich’s parents would be against the match and it’s difficult to imagine whom they might have thought more suitable. But Luzi’s memoirs also inform us that there were also doubts on her side of the family, and it was agreed that there would be a year’s separation before making further commitments. It seems bizarre today that such strict etiquette was demanded in personal relationships, while nobody seemed to object to Luzi’s appearance in what, in its day, passed for a fairly racy film. Die tote Stadt would be the work that ‘made’ Erich Korngold. Erich and Julius cobbled a libretto together working under the name of Paul Schott – a combination of the name of the principal male lead and Erich’s publishers. The pseudonym was in order to counter claims that Julius was the actual composer of Erich’s first works. It was based on the popular novel Bruges-la-Morte, by Georges Rodenbach. Presumably Julius welcomed the thought of double royalties being due. Early negotiations with Schott und Söhne in Mainz reveal Julius to have driven the hardest of bargains. The demands he made were utterly unrealistic but Schott was at the point of a generational hand-over and the younger brothers, Ludwig and Willy Strecker, wanted to make a mark. With Korngold, they saw an opportunity, and closed their eyes to the expense. It was a wise, if initially reckless decision. Within only a few years, Die tote Stadt would dominate opera stages as no other new work since Franz Schreker’s Der ferne Klang or Strauss’s Rosenkavalier. Following its double premiere on December 4, 1920 in Hamburg conducted by Egon Pollack, and in Cologne conducted by Otto Klemperer, it went on to become the star vehicle for Maria Jeritza at Vienna’s State Opera, eventually crossing the Atlantic to become the first new German opera to be performed at New York’s Metropolitan since the outbreak of the First World War. Maria Jeritza sings a very individual rendition of Glück, das mir verblieb also known as Marietta’s Lute Song from Die tote Stadt If the influence of Puccini is immediately apparent, it has to be recognised that Die tote Stadt is Puccini seen through a lens of fin de siècle Vienna. It seems equally impossible to imagine the work without the shimmering harmonic curtains produced by Schreker, Zemlinsky, Strauss and indeed, Schoenberg. These would all have been influences that Julius would have dismissed, and with the exception of Zemlinsky and Strauss, he regularly tore into the others whenever the occasion permitted. Indeed, had Zemlinsky not been so central to his son’s development, he would have attempted the destruction of Zemlinsky with the same zeal he wielded against Schreker. There can be no doubt that in Schreker, he saw genuine danger, despite being a full generation older than Erich. Yet Schreker’s sound world in such operas as Der Ferne Klang, Die Gezeichneten and Der Schatzgräber would offer the aural pallet that would influence at least to some degree, Korngold’s own ‘sound’. Julius dismissed Schreker’s unique harmonic effects as mere ‘chord-bending’ and raged against perceived French influences, which at the same time, provided the ‘sheen’ so idiomatic of Vienna’s fin de siècle sound world. If Puccini inspired the flowering of Korngold’s melodic inventiveness, the others provided its harmonic bedding. Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland, Groot Omroekoor; Salemkour; Schwanewilms, John Horton Murray, etc. perform an extract of the second act of Schreker’s opera from 1912, ‘Der ferne Klang’ with its kaleidoscopic mix of perspectives and rhythms Luzi and Erich married in April 1924. Julius’s plans had blown up in his face. His constant domination of Erich and determination to keep the two lovers apart only focused Erich’s mind on financial and emotional independence. His father had poisoned a number of important wells, including conducting opportunities at the State Opera. Richard Straus, then director of the Opera, was a loyal supporter of Erich’s and welcomed his input when he engaged Erich to join the conducting staff, but even he had to submit to the inevitable pressure from Julius and release him from his contract. If there was any hope of an independent life along with the freedom to marry Luzi, he needed to exit Julius’s world of serious music. In the early 1920s, this meant entering the world of popular operetta; once he was financially on his own feet, he could always return to the music of the opera house and concert hall. In 1923, Hubert Marischka was not only the leading pre-Richard Tauber tenor, he was also the head of Vienna’s prestigious Theater-an-der-Wien. An offer from Marischka to Korngold to update several less successful Strauss operettas such as A Night in Venice and Cagliostro in Vienna led to expectations of a long-term contract that would guarantee the independence necessary to free himself from Julius. Potpourri of numbers from ‘A Night in Venice’ (‘eine Nacht in Venedig’) Erich’s success was greater than expected. Richard Tauber’s involvement and ensuing popularity resulted in a string of hits, and by 1931 Korngold had cobbled together a selection of Strauss works to form a pastiche operetta specifically for Tauber, called Das Lied der Liebe. Added to the Strauss adaptations were one forgotten and one unfinished operetta by Leo Fall, and yet another pastiche of Strauss works called Walzer aus Wien, becoming an international hit and known as The Great Waltz. Erich had more than fulfilled his ambitions to free himself from the tyranny of Julius. Frag mich oft – from Walzer aus Wien – or The Great Waltz sung by Julius Patzak Die eine Frau – from ‚Das Lied der Liebe‘ a Tauber/Strauss extravaganza arranged by Korngld sung by Richard Tauber An association with Max Reinhardt in 1929 resulted in new versions of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Offenbach’s La belle Hélène. By this time, Korngold was an extremely wealthy man and in the eyes of the world, an expert in the ‘Golden Age’ of operetta. Incredibly, while churning out one operetta arrangement after another, he still managed to finish two song cycles (Op. 18 and Op. 22) a couple of piano compositions, a chamber music commission for Paul Wittgenstein and his mammoth opera Das Wunder der Heliane. That Erich had turned to operetta arrangements in order to marry Luzi only increased the gulf between Julius and his daughter-in-law. By this time Erich could do what he pleased and with the birth of two boys named Ernst and Georg known as Schurli, he purchased a villa in one of Vienna’s leafiest suburbs and a large, yet rustic estate complete with a roomy hunting lodge called Höselberg Schlößerl, (Little Höselberg Palace) in the Alps. Julius and Josefine still demanded their grandparental rights and would continue as an integral part of the household – even while being kept at arms’ length. Erich had throughout the 1920s continued to compose ‘serious’ music and was accepted as a fellow new music composer by avant-garde colleagues within the International Society for Contemporary Music. Indeed, they featured his Op. 16 quartet in their Venice Festival of 1925. His 1923 left-hand concerto for Paul Wittgenstein was considered ‘progressive’, though not atonal. Schoenberg had only just started to teach his twelve-tone technique, so open forms with untethered tonal centres and unresolved dissonance were both Korngoldian and ‘modernist’. The Chilingirian Quartet play the opening movement of Korngold’s op. 16 String Quartet Where Korngold was not headed, was the ‘New-Objectivity’ direction of Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill, Ernst Krenek, Hanns Eisler, Ernst Toch and others. Nor was his music loaded with political or social messages, and though he was undoubtedly delighted if people were moved to perform his works, he did not feel compelled to write community projects or didactic stage works that demanded the input of amateurs. It was perfectly laudable if people from Berlin’s working-class districts marched about singing in unison about ‘building a city’ (as per Hindemith), or ‘taking political measures’ (as per Eisler), but this was not his world. Tu ab mein Schmerz – Ease up, my Pain – from the songs Op. 18 offers an interesting presentation of Korngoldian dissonance and voluptuousness compressed into under two minutes Music was something to entertain and stimulate. It was not a teaching device, or worse, a means of conveying disruptive propaganda. As his opera Die Tote Stadt demonstrated, the annihilation of the First World War demanded escape, not a sobering confrontation with reality or ‘political instruction’. In fact, Die tote stadt, was the last time he would take on the Zeitgeist and come away victorious. Viennese tenor Karl Friedrich (1905-1981) sings the final scene of ‘Die tote Stadt’ with its lengthy recap of Marietta’s Lute song Korngold was fully aware that the new world emerging from the defeat of war demanded an edgier sound and consequentially, his output became more angular with works such as his piano concerto, piano quintet and Sursum Corda. Such works, however, often left his devoted followers bewildered. They expected something else. Sursum Corda, composed immediately after the war, would remain his problem child and an unloved work by the public; if the audience was not happy, Korngold was not happy though it remained a work he felt the public would eventually come to appreciate. What set Korngold apart from his contemporaries was his ability to compose serious music that was popular, while popularising the light music of other composers. Where Korngold differed from his contemporaries was his lack of interest in developing a synthesis between popular and serious music. In addition, serious music itself had polarised: on one side was a largely incomprehensible avant-garde of atonal or twelve-tone works, while on the other, there were composers who felt serious music needed ‘to dumb down’ in order to educate, instruct and communicate. This aim to synthesise serious with popular music was most convincingly pulled off by various French composers and George Gershwin who successfully fused elements of jazz into concert works. When the young Franz Schreker pupil Ernst Krenek attempted the same with a full-length opera called Jonny spielt auf!, (loosely translating as Jonny Strikes up the Band!) it became a global sensation and the phenomenon of the ‘contemporary opera’ or ‘Zeitoper’ was born. In fact, operas such as La Traviata, Der ferne Klang or indeed Die tote Stadt could have been set in the time and place in which they were composed, and thus be considered ‘contemporary’. In contrast, Zeitoperas (or in German, Zeitopern) elicited enthusiastic reactions from audiences as their settings seemed even more ‘real’ and contemporary. There was no pretence of achieving timelessness, and they reacted against the historic or mythical storylines hitherto favoured by established composers. Where Ernst Krenek’s Jonny differed from other ‘contemporary’ operas, was its inclusion of modern sounds, such as klaxons, sirens, flappers and radios, along with its unapologetic inclusion of jazz elements. Jonny was followed by numerous imitators making the phenomenon of the ‘Zeitoper’ like a tsunami, sweeping away virtually all conventional operas composed between 1927 and 1931. The novelty was short-lived and by the early 1930s had nearly disappeared entirely. There were to be two operatic ‘Helens’ that would fall victim to the Zeitoper, and Korngold was in good company: His massive The Miracle of Heliane, or Das Wunder der Heliane, (nearly an hour longer than Die tote Stadt), would share a similar fate to Richard Strauss’s Egyptian Helen, or Ägyptische Helena. Both operas would be well-received but soon fall into oblivion, even becoming objects of ridicule. Strangely, of the two works premiered just over a year apart, Strauss was more accurate in assessing changing tastes than his younger colleague. His Helena, though mythical, was projected as a more modern and accessible personality, whereas Korngold’s Heliane, remained mythical and otherworldly. Paradoxically, both operas were written with Maria Jeritza in mind, though for various reasons, she premiered neither. Unlike Strauss, Korngold had other issues that were not in his favour. The first of these was undoubtedly his father Julius who loathed Zeitoper with unmatched journalistic aggression. He hated jazz and above all, he hated the message of Krenek’s Jonny, in which an African-American jazz musician steals the violin of a European classical concert artist, and in the end, comes away victorious. It was a clear message that the New World offered a culture so appealing to younger generations, that all the ideals of the Old World would simply be flushed down the toilet, without thought or regret. In fact, this was the message of all subsequent Zeitoperas, but Krenek’s peeved particularly because it was the first, and because of its unexpected success. Following its Leipzig premiere, it enjoyed more performances than all newly premiered operas put together. In its first year, it nearly clocked up as many performances as all of the combined operas by Puccini and more than the combined operas of Richard Strauss. The effect was a galvanising jolt to the serious music business, and publishing houses fell over themselves to commission follow-up sensations. With Erich’s Heliane’s run of performances in Vienna dovetailing with Krenek’s Jonny, the contrast could not have been starker. Everyone jumped onto the bandwagon: cigarettes called Jonny and Heliane were launched, with Helianes being perfumed and gold-tipped and Jonny (still sold today in Austria), filterless, rough and ready. Julius also found himself making common-cause with Austria’s growing proto-Nazi movement, which hated Jonny because of the appealing portrayal of its African-American anti-hero. Their ‘hatred’ of jazz was based on racial, rather than musical reasons and in their somewhat warped thinking, saw a Jewish cabal behind its run at Vienna’s prestigious State Opera. It was an irony of history that Krenek was not remotely Jewish while Korngold was. Intoxicating moment from Das Wunder der Heliane Du Lumpenkerl (You rat!) from Krenek’s ‘Jonny spielt auf!‘ with its jazz elements and Swanee whistle Like Ägyptische Helene, the premiere of Korngold’s Heliane was deemed a success and there were respectable runs in many respectable opera houses. Nothing, however, could disguise the seeming irrelevance of the work. With its run in clangourous, banging and booming Berlin, even Bruno Walter and the cast were distancing themselves. The Nazi threat was still five or six years down the road, so the premonitions of a ‘dark kingdom without joy’ were simply too remote to be understood. Korngold’s Hamburg Heliane was Maria Hussa who would go on to sing the role of Anita in Krenek’s Jonny. Wikipedia states that critics and public considered Heliane ‘a flop’ following its Hamburg premiere. This is quite wrong: it went on to enjoy eighteen further performances in Hamburg alone, more than a respectable number for a new work and a match for subsequent performances following a Richard Strauss premiere in the 1920s. It even enjoyed full Viennese and Berlin runs, though the press had by now concluded that the work, though popular with the public, was pointless, emotionally juvenile and hopelessly out of touch with the real world. A more practical issue was the fact that the tenors engaged to sing the role of ‘The Stranger’ were demanding cuts and even cancelling subsequent performances. The music was undeniably intoxicating, but what use was that if the singer had not been born who could actually pull it off? There were two further chronological paradoxes concerning Korngold’s Heliane: one was the day before its Hamburg premiere, Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer opened the way for sound and cinema. At the time, nobody could have guessed the musical implications of such a development. The other, was Maria Jeritza having to decline the role of Heliane for its Vienna run as she was singing Korngold’s Violanta at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The stand-in was Lotte Lehmann who would go on to make the central aria very much her own and for decades, provide the opera with a tenuous life-line. Ich ging zu ihm – I Went to Him – the central aria of Heliane as sung by Lotte Lehmann Heliane thus became another watershed in Korngold’s careers. It proved that Julius’s instincts were wrong and that the public was heading in a totally different direction. It focused Erich’s energies all the more as arranger of popular operettas and at least for the time being, kept him largely clear of serious composition. Between the premiere of Heliane and the rise of Adolf Hitler, whose government would ban his music in Germany, Korngold composed a string quartet, a piano sonata, a chamber work for Paul Wittgenstein, and something called Baby-Serenade, which (depending on whose account one believes), was either written following the birth of first-born Ernst, (as reported by Luzi in her memoirs), or as Georg informed Korngold’s biographer Brendan Carroll, following his own birth. This incident hints that the Korngold familial dysfunction carried into the following generation, with attention and concern lavished on the younger, musically talented but sickly Schurli, while Ernst was largely left to forge his own way. Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Leon Fleisher & Joseph Silverstein perform the IV mov. from Korngold’s Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano Left Hand, Op. 23: Lied. Schlicht und innig. Nicht zu langsam From the rise of Hitler until Korngold’s final departure to America, only his next opera, Die Kathrin would occupy him. It too was a miscalculation, arriving long after public interest in such things had peaked. His synthesis of serious opera and operetta with an accompanying dollop of jazz was seriously passé by the time he completed it in 1937 and rapidly falling out of fashion in 1932, when he first came up with the idea. In addition, political realities made such escapism seem wilfully blind. It underlined another Korngold frailty: though he was always capable of writing appealing music that everyone could love, in the expensive business of composing operas, he was hopeless at reading the pulse of the age. He struck gold as a fin de siècle teenager with Polykrates, Violanta and Die tote Stadt. His subsequent two operas, however, were miscalculations that were built on models that had captured the public imagination nearly a decade earlier. Heliane was clearly Korngold’s reaction to Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten from 1919, while Die Kathrin lay somewhere between Jaromír Weinberger’s 1927 hit Schwanda the Bagpiper, and the flood of Zeitoperas that followed Jonny spielt auf! By the time of Kathrin’s premiere in Stockholm in 1939, it too was ten years out of date. Korngold performs his ‘The Letter Scene’ from his opera ‘Die Kathrin’ Korngold’s musical genius was always long term and the beauty of the music from Die Kathrin remains timeless, but with the outbreak of history’s bloodiest war, it was not just naïve, it reflected the same irresponsible blindness to world events that nearly stranded his eldest son Ernst in Austria, unable to escape, following Hitler’s annexation of Austria. Korngold’s association with Max Reinhardt starting in 1929 would open the final chapter in Erich’s pre-war career. Reinhardt was already the most famous director working in Germany and Austria and referred to as either ‘the magician’ or the ‘circus ring master’. Everything he touched was embraced by the public and every initiative he undertook turned to gold. He transformed Vienna’s Josefstadt Theatre, and would launch any number of theatrical spectacles in Berlin, even employing the acting talents of Luzi’s sister, Helene. His enormous wealth meant he was able to purchase and lavishly restore the opulent Leopoldskron Palace and surrounding park near Salzburg (used as the setting for the von Trapp home in the film The Sound of Music). In 1935, he married the actress Helene Thimig, daughter of the actor Hugo Thimig and sister to fellow actors Hermann and Hans Thimig. She was also a childhood friend of Luzi’s. Reinhardt first approached Korngold in 1926 to supply music for Schiller’s play Turandot, but with the premiere of Puccini’s posthumous working of the same material also in 1926, Korngold declined. He had formed a close friendship with Puccini over the years and his death in 1924 had come as a blow. Reinhardt then approached Korngold to collaborate on Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne, which again Korngold declined as he thought the work too weak musically to resurrect. After an evening of negotiation, it was decided that they would create a new version of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. For Korngold, it was an opportunity to update one of Strauss’s strongest works. Reinhardt already had plans to rejig the opera into a hybrid between musical and straight theatre. The subsequent success of Fledermaus meant that Reinhardt could persuade Korngold to agree to an Offenbach collaboration, resulting in a reworking of La Belle Hélène. Both collaborations would enjoy success far beyond the borders of Germany and Austria. Anneliese Rothenberger and Rudolf Schock sing ‘es ist ein Traum‘ from ‘Die Schöne Helene’ More important than the actual musical partnership was Reinhardt’s paternal encouragement, which Julius was unable or unwilling to offer. As Luzi makes clear in her memoirs, the relationship with Erich’s parents was kept tightly controlled with access granted only during holidays at their Höselberg estate. Julius continued to see his son as the natural successor to Gustav Mahler and was appalled that neither Erich nor the rest of the world appeared to agree with him. He found it profoundly disturbing that Erich spent so much of his creative energy on lightweight populist music, while only coming for advice when in need of a literary reference or contact. With Reinhardt now in the picture, even these modest paternal contributions were no longer necessary. Korngold performs his own potpourri of Strauss waltzes Erich on the other hand disappointed Julius with his conviction that the operas and operettas of Offenbach, Strauss and Leo Fall were masterpieces, fully worthy of the serious music canon. As a result, Erich saw his arrangements as a ‘privilege’ and an important means of keeping earlier classics relevant to contemporary audiences. With the relationship between Helene Thimig and Luzi long established, the Korngold and Reinhardt households were clearly more than business associations, though Luzi points out that Reinhardt only called childhood friends by the informal ‘du’ and addressed Erich as either ‘Herr Professor’, or simply as ‘Korngold’. The anti-Semitic policies of the NSDAP seemed not to have registered appreciable danger with Korngold. A letter from his publishers, engaged in a delicate balancing act, informs him that he’s a bit far away from the reality of ‘the new Germany’, but ‘thankfully’, he has yet to land on the ‘black list’ of composers to be banned. Korngold’s adaptation of Leo Fall’s The Divorced Woman, (Die geschiedene Frau) ran in Berlin just as Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. The run was short, but accounts vary as to why it would be one of Korngold’s very few failures. Logic would indicate that it was the work of a Jewish composer (Leo Fall) adapted by another Jewish composer. Yet an article in Die Neue Freie Presse, on June 14, 1935 (two years after the event) gives a totally different account in which production companies were apparently tricked into opening in the smaller and therefore inadequate Nollendorf Theatre. There is no mention of Hitler, or Nazi policy. Documented is the fact that the lead tenor, Harold von Oppenheimer was a member of the Oppenheimer banking family and thus managed to finance the limited run of three weeks out of his own pocket. Korngold appears to have been philosophical about losing opportunities in Nazi Germany and saw it as invitation to concentrate on Die Kathrin. His publisher Schott was unable to take it on as a work by a Jewish composer and Erich turned to the Mahler publishing house Weinberger. Die Kathrin was yet another indication of Korngold’s unfailing insensitivities to political realities. Enchanted by Heinrich Eduard Jakob’s novella The Maid of Aachen, Korngold approached a colleague of Julius’s from Die Neue Freie Presse, Dr Ernst Décsey, to turn it into an opera libretto. The story concerned a German girl falling in love and having the child of a French soldier in the occupied Saarland. The Treaty of Versailles allowed the French to occupy the Saarland following Germany’s defeat in 1918. Its return to ‘The Reich’ was Hitler’s top priority and a referendum in 1935 ended the occupation without bloodshed, resulting in its reintegration into Germany in 1936. Given that Korngold had decided as early as 1932 to adapt Jakob’s novella into material for an opera, one starts to sense either pathological political insensitivity or the naïve belief that his opera would calm the murderous resentments boiling over on both sides. In fact, Schott turned down the project even before Hitler’s appointment, due to the political sensibilities of the day. Rejection of the proposed treatment left Korngold resentful at what he felt was irrelevant political interference. Luzi’s eventual solution of relocating the story to Switzerland would have unforeseen consequences: It certainly assuaged any potential controversy threatened by the original treatment, but at the same time removed the coherence of the narrative, and fatally trivialised the political tensions fundamental to Jakob’s original. Reinhardt, on the other hand, was far more pro-active in attempting to counter the loss of earnings in Germany and had accepted an invitation to stage Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hollywood Bowl. Traditional ‘straight’ theatre was not a speciality of Hollywood, and Max Reinhardt’s ability to create magic was instantly understood as potentially cinematic. Moguls had been in unofficial competition to film a Shakespeare play, and this looked the perfect opportunity. Warner Bros. offered Reinhardt a contract who insisted that Korngold be engaged to arrange the traditionally used Mendelssohn score. The three years following Midsummer Night’s Dream kept Korngold commuting between Hollywood and Vienna as he worked on various follow-up projects. Reinhardt, in a tragic twist of events, would never make another movie. The trailer for ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was itself something that was dreamt up in order not to frighten the American public away from Reinhardt’s classically delivered Shakespearian English. No spoken dialogue from the film is permitted to intrude into the panic-stricken advertising hype of the studio promotions’ Team. It would be the Korngolds’ good fortune that those around them had the foresight to follow and understand what was going on politically. Erich had sent a postcard from his honeymoon in which he wrote that he and Luzi were ‘playing at being married – a game that Luzi nearly always wins’. Remaining childlike and oblivious to events around them could have cost them dearly had they not been surrounded by responsible adults such as Reinhardt and indeed, Julius. ‘Sweet Melody of Night’ from the Paramount Film ‘Give Us This Night’ with the tenor who sang The Stranger in Korngold’s ‘Das Wunder der Heliane’, Jan Kiepura The story of Korngold’s arrival in Hollywood is well-known and for the purposes of this exposition on Korngold’s life and work, the years as cinema composer will be dealt with in general terms and in the context of his total output. If this seems unfair, it’s worth pointing out that in Luzi Korngold’s memoirs, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis are mentioned only once. Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are not mentioned at all. In fact, Luzi compresses Korngold’s film-work into a mere few pages. The only film she writes about with any degree of sympathy or detail is The Green Pastures, a movie that used an exclusively African-American cast, none of whom was allowed in the dining room reserved for executives and cast. Korngold obviously felt great empathy at the sickening sense of exclusion. If anyone understood the wickedness of racism, it was Korngold, and he took pleasure in taking his meals with the cast in the stagehands’ canteen, the only facility the studios were prepared to make available to the African-American cast. In fact, Korngold’s contributions to the project were modest and he refused payment, yet intriguingly, it is precisely this film that Luzi bothers to write about. It is needless to point out that Julius is even more silent on Erich’s film work. Trailer for the film ‘Green Pastures’ The reasons for the silence are obvious: Julius never approved of Erich ‘wasting’ his talent on something as ephemeral as popular culture, whereas Luzi wrote her memoirs following Erich’s death and desperate to see him restored to his earlier reputation as ‘great’ composer. It never occurred to either of them that Erich was in the forefront of a new industry and his contribution to cinema would make it possible for any number of ‘great’ composers to write film scores with full confidence in their artistry and integrity. Music from the film ‘The Sea Hawk’ There is much that speaks for Korngold being hailed as ‘the father of the Hollywood Sound’ – but there is also a good deal of hyperbole connected with this observation. Fellow Viennese Max Steiner was certainly the progenitor of the dedicated Hollywood score, and other composers – both immigrant and American-born, developed ideas that resulted in the cumulative ‘Sound’ that defined the sweep of Hollywood films from the 1930s onwards. Korngold’s contribution is perhaps symbolic as much as anything. Until his arrival, no serious composer had shown an interest in American cinema. Official Warner Bros. trailer for the film ‘Kings Row’ Music accompanying silent films had been a pastiche of classics mixed with pre-composed generic works for romantic or action moments. There was never any reason to assume that things would change with the advent of the ‘the talkie’. Steiner’s score of King Kong in 1933 was therefore revolutionary, though it would not be until Korngold’s arrival that American cinema realised that its music department had captured a very big beast which was capable of significantly lifting Hollywood profitability and credibility. Trailer for ‘Anthony Adverse’ the first Korngold film to win an Oscar Hollywood’s studios were perhaps the richest producer of films, but by no means were they a monopoly. Soviet, German, French and even Italian and Spanish cinema had developed in Tandem. The American movie industry suffered from insecurities that stemmed from enormous commercial success at the expense of a perceived lack of depth and sophistication. With the wave of European talent arriving post-1933, this would change, and Korngold’s entry onto the Warner Bros. Sound Stage catapulted the prestige of the studio beyond its rivals. With the unexpected influx of European talent, Hollywood could no longer be thought of as the repository for those unable to make it in straight theatre or classical music. Max Steiner, composer of Gone with Wind, Casa Blanca, Now Voyager and of course, the afore-mentioned King Kong, had come to America after Gustav Mahler had told him that he was ‘without talent’. Now, the composer Mahler had declared enormously talented was also in town. This was indeed a watershed in Hollywood fortunes. But what is revealing about Korngold, is the fact that he alone among the ‘classical’ composers seems to have enjoyed the greatest success. There were, contrary to popular perception, a number of serious composers who landed in Hollywood: Darius Milhaud, Alexandre Tansman, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ernst Toch, Hanns Eisler and Erich Zeisl. Few enjoyed the success of Korngold, or the many composers who arrived from different corners of the entertainment industry: Franz Waxman/Wachsmann, Alfred Newman, Max Steiner, Bernard Hermann, Miklós Rózsa or Dimitri Tiomkin, all of whom came from performance, conducting, arranging, jazz or vaudeville. Orchestrators normally provided ‘the Hollywood Sound’, though Korngold surprised everyone by orchestrating himself, apart from help offered by Hugo Friedhofer when pressed by deadlines. The film composer was required to come up with specific themes, though Korngold went further and mapped out movies as he would operas, using leitmotifs. For example, Korngold expert Brendan Carroll has counted over 40 different motifs in Anthony Adverse. Korngold kept the musical narrative linked to the dramatic superstructure, though even he could not always influence what was edited out or covered by sound effects. Korngold scored only some eighteen or so movies. His music has outlasted nearly all of the actual films and continues to live on as concert adaptations. This is one of the ultimate paradoxes concerning Korngold: none of his scores is attached to one of Hollywood’s 100 greatest films, yet his influence continues to be felt through composers such as John Williams and the recently deceased James Horner. Waxman came up with more varied styles and could change genre from ‘Classic’ film score to ‘Horror’ to ‘Sleaze’ with consummate virtuosity. Alfred Newman was the most successful in terms of awards and industry recognition while the music of Max Steiner remains inseparable from his most successful films, many of which do rank in the top 100. Tara’s Theme may sound like the interlude between acts two and three of any Franz Lehár operetta, but it’s impossible to imagine Gone with the Wind without Steiner’s score, even if much of it is pastiche using folk-song and battle hymn arrangements. The same applies for Casa Blanca and Now Voyager – all brilliant at interweaving originality with the familiar. The London Philharmonic perform Max Steiner’s ‘Tara’s Theme’ from ‘Gone With the Wind’: Viennese nostalgia meets the American Confederacy Trailer for ‘Juarez’ Nor was Korngold immune to other developments taking place at the same time. Hanns Eisler had brought many creative ideas from Soviet cinema to Hollywood and his use of music was very different form Korngold’s. Yet it is specifically in one of Korngold’s best films, Juarez, that one suspects Eisler’s ideas are not totally ignored. Music is utilitarian and often diegetic. Korngold eschews the lavish or intoxicating knock-out scoring of Sea Hawk, The Adventures of Robin Hood or Captain Blood with music more contained within the dramatic narrative. The score for ‘The Sea Wolf’ one of Korngold’s least typical ‘Hollywood’ scores Indeed, it’s worth noting that Korngold never achieved the emotional sweep in cinema of his opera Das Wunder der Heliane, a work that was composed before any thought of original film scoring had occurred to anyone. His models were the aforementioned Frau ohne Schatten, but undervalued is the cinematic layering of events and perspectives found in the operas of Franz Schreker or the symphonies of Gustav Mahler – all anticipating dramatic devices that would culminate in Cinema. Heliane supplied Korngold with a toolkit for Hollywood, but it was not itself superseded by cinema. Korngold not only employs multi-perspectives in Heliane, but achieves greater impact by controlling the narrative build-up, allowing space for ideas to expand and modulate to degrees impossible in film. The actual ‘Miracle’ of Heliane is illustrated by explosive glissandi on harps and piano achieving an effect that is as evocative as it is cinematic. The emotional pull of the final duet of Heliane also results in musical opulence impossible within the narrative shorthand of cinema. (The final 16 minutes of ‘Das Wunder der Heliane’ starting with her ‘Wunder’, or ‘miracle’ to the end) This is not to dismiss Korngold’s contribution to Hollywood, or his practical employment of music in moving pictures, but to point out that it is limiting Korngold’s significance to reduce his overall contribution to that of ‘Hollywood Sound’ paternity. His contribution was without question enormous, and he clearly influenced the work of those around him, but it was as much in establishing credibility as the actual music he composed that was game-changing. Ultimately, however, it simply cannot be ignored that he himself ceased to view film music as being of equal significance, and resented its draining of creative resources. There are of course quotes that would appear to confirm his belief in film-music being the next phase of music-drama and the natural development beyond opera. These observations came from his early Hollywood days before his inability to return to Austria. Even with the unique conditions he agreed with Warner Bros. that meant he never scored more than two films a year, could choose the films he worked on and had control over material for later exploitation, he felt himself soon chained to the conveyor belt of film production and being required to write music on demand. Motif from ‘Das Wunder der Heliane’ in Korngold’s cue ‘Judgement Day’ from the film ‘Between Two Worlds’ No wonder the keen eared listener can suddenly hear snippets of Das Wunder der Heliane in the film Between Two Worlds. When Schoenberg was asked to write a Fanfare for the Hollywood Bowl, he simply rescored music from Gurrelieder. Korngold would never have been quite so utilitarian and the bits of earlier works that one hears are never more than motifs or the reworking of themes. He felt much of his music was lost forever and saw in film scores, a partial opportunity of prolonging a work’s existence. Nevertheless, self-belief and belief in the ultimate strength of his best works, meant he never recycled his greatest themes: there are no echoes of Marietta or Pierrot to be heard in any of his film scores. With the end of the war, it comes as no surprise that Korngold completed the projects he was already working on and projects for which he had already signed a contract. As soon as his desk was cleared, he intended to leave the studios and return to Austria as soon as feasible. This was easier said than done. Europe was war-torn, millions were dead, his own health was poor and his sons were happy and felt at home in America. Ernst married Helen, a bright young woman with movie star looks and settled down as a teacher. In due course, it would become clear that America was destined to remain ‘home’ as post-war attempts to return would prove. Korngold shared a common fate with other former Hollywood composers. A seamless ‘return’ to where he had been professionally before the rise of Hitler was out of the question. In the eyes of his fellow Austrians, he had conveniently side-stepped the monstrosities of the Nazi regime by growing rich and famous in Hollywood. Yet the commercial success he enjoyed before the war was simply not comparable with his fairly modest circumstances in Hollywood, where any money he earned went towards affidavits and supporting family and friends. His pre-war mansion in Vienna’s prestigious, and ironically named ‘Cottage-Quarter’ along with the family’s Alpine estate complete with ‘mini-palace’ were not equalled by the unassuming bungalow on Toluca Lake in Los Angeles. Korngold, however, had a more difficult challenge than other Hollywood composers trying to regain pre-war significance. His lifetime of success and fame was now held against him. Neither Julius nor Max Reinhardt, were alive to protect him and the cumulative jealousy of colleagues offered an opportunity of dishing up the coldest possible revenge. In post-war Germany, it was thought that in order to escape Hitler’s cultural legacy, it was important to catapult music into distant, progressive fields. To do this, one needed to be icily forward-looking and dispassionately avant-garde, characteristics that rarely, if ever entered Korngold’s creative process. In the tormented years following the Nazi defeat, being damned as lightweight and shallow was the ultimate death sentence. Korngold’s successes were dismissed by his Euroepan critics and rivals as trivial and appealing to the lowest common denominator with an arrogance that suggested his works shared the same cultural values as the III Reich. Erich could no doubt hear Julius muttering dryly ‘I told you so’ from the beyond. A quick recap of his situation highlights the dilemmas and opportunities that confronted him. Born into a highly ambitious household, his father was merciless in exploiting his son’s talent in order to consolidate his own insecure status and through whom he could realise his own ambitions. The only escape was to renounce the field of serious music that meant so much to Julius and gain independence by becoming as commercial as possible. His commercial success was itself a guarantor of musical reaction when he returned to composing operas and concert works. Das Wunder der Heliane attempted to blindside listeners with music so intoxicating, that all debates regarding the direction of new music were simply expected to be shut down, while his years of operetta adaptations are clearly heard in Die Kathrin. Such counter-revolutionary crimes could not go unpunished. The easiest option for Korngold after the war would have been to stay with Warner Bros. Why he didn’t is the core of the final tragic chapter in Korngold’s life. It is enormously important to return to Korngold’s arrival in Hollywood and examine the expectations he and others harboured. Hitler had cut off their prime source of income and the welcome accorded to Europe’s finest promised both greater exposure and popularity, while expanding resources to exploit maximum creativity. They were subsequently overwhelmed by two realities: one was the careful monitoring of the bottom line, unknown in European creativity where either local aristocracy or the state stumped up whatever funding was necessary. The other reality was Hitler’s expansion into Austria, Czechoslovakia and the inevitable war that followed his invasion of Poland. Korngold plays at a cocktail party given by Ray Heindorf – he plays his Pierrot’s waltz from ‘Die tote Stadt’ something unfamiliar to anyone in attendance. They egg him on to keep playing but rather than play further works from his European years, he plays themes from his various movies The bottom line had already resulted in the dry-docking of Max Reinhardt. His filming of Midsummer Night’s Dream had turned into a financial nightmare for the ever-cautious producers at Warner Bros. They promised a follow-up prestige project but ditched it as soon as Reinhardt was out of earshot. By the time he realised he had been misled, he was unable to return to Europe. Warner Bros. bought out the three film contract they had with Reinhardt, and the money was used to found his acting school. He lived out the rest of his days running his acting school for whatever attractive youngster was picked up at the soda fountain and in need of thespian instruction. ‘Send them to Max’ became the standard response when appealing youngsters, loved by the camera, turned up without acting experience. In retrospect, Reinhardt’s attempt to re-enter the movie business by mounting a production of Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters with his young hopefuls was nearly comical. All of the invited moguls simply fell asleep during the opening act. In the end, however, it was Reinhardt’s foresight in obtaining an offer to work in California that ultimately saved Korngold and his family. It was equally Julius’s foresight in placing Ernst’s valid American visa into his own passport that allowed Erich’s parents and eldest son to escape Vienna via Switzerland the day after Hitler’s march into Austria. Schurli had already joined Erich and Luzi in California as the doctor in Vienna advised that Californian air would be good for his lungs. Ernst still had his final exams to complete and remained with Luzi’s sister. Luzi is disarming in her honest assessment of their misreading the political situation and the subsequent horrors that potentially could have ensued. Success had meant that the Korngolds felt themselves invulnerable to the mere ups and downs of local politics. Dismissing Hitler as an ‘up or down’ was a deadly miscalculation, and it was thanks to Reinhardt and Julius that they undertook the necessary precautions to save the Korngold family from disaster: Reinhardt, by making the connection with Korngold and Warner Bros., and Julius because he had always sensed that Austria would inevitably fall. Nazis had broken into the Korngold villa in Vienna and were instructed to burn manuscripts, including Die Kathrin. Fast thinking, following panic stricken telegrams resulted in employees from the publishers Weinberger breaking into the house and removing as much of the score as remained. Another score was already in their London office. Parts were rescued from the State Opera, already in preparation for its October premiere, and the lot was shipped back to Korngold hidden in volumes of good ‘German’ composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. To Nazi customs’ officials, music was music and they couldn’t tell the difference. Korngold thus found himself mugged by both realities – commercial necessity and Hitler, both at the same time. He, Luzi and Schurli had travelled to Hollywood in January 1938 to look at the rushes for The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Having come the distance, he flatly refused to write the music, saying that he was incapable of composing ‘action music’. They remained in rented accommodation for the rest of the winter of 1938 for the benefit of Schurli’s health. If Reinhardt’s naivety seemed comical in his attempts to impress movie moguls with Goldoni, Korngold’s inability to understand the political climate verges on criminal negligence. His refusal to work on Robin Hood would result in him having to eat a good deal of humble pie. Luzi spins the story that he had never truly intended to refuse the project, and had spent his days of inactivity in the Californian sun jotting down musical ideas. In reality, he had already read the script on the crossing and started to write down various musical ideas, including material from his Sursum Corda, as suggested by the ever resourceful Julius. This was fortunate, as supplying the music to Robin Hood quickly and efficiently was what ultimately would provide Korngold with an income during the next seven years and consolidate his reputation as film composer. It therefore became apparent that the expectations of achieving artistically rewarding results in Hollywood were dashed. The combination of Hitler and Warner Bros.’ pursuit of the bottom line left Korngold feeling trapped. Until this point and while still based in Austria, he had been very much in charge of his own destiny and let his Hollywood clients know that he would only agree to a project if it interested him. With the arrival of Hitler, ‘clients’ became ‘bosses’ and he suddenly found himself having to guarantee affidavits for countless relatives, while supporting them once they arrived. This sense of no escape would gradually diminish the value Korngold placed on his work and made him yearn for a return to pure concert music and opera. It was the common experience of all immigrant composers with the possible exception of Hanns Eisler, who was forward looking enough to see film music as equal to every other genre. John Mauceri – Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin perform the opening movement of the Symphonic Serenade for Strings op. 39 A heart attack in September of 1947 prevented an early return to Vienna and the city that finally greeted him 1949 was very different from the home he had left in 1938. A bothersome battle to have their villa returned only left a single habitable floor with the Korngolds having to pick up an expensive restoration bill. The estate in the Alps was sold to the local mayor for a peppercorn. It had been turned into a camp for displaced persons, and with 12,000,000 German speakers being relocated from Eastern Europe, it did not appear likely that they would be able to return in the near future. Again Korngold found himself on the wrong side of the divide. Those who would have welcomed returning former exiles would not have welcomed Korngold’s music, which did not sufficiently represent the post-war need for cultural change. On the other hand, those who might have found something positive to appreciate in Korngold’s music were themselves likely to have been supporters of the Nazi regime and didn’t welcome Jewish musicians returning to Austria. The mutual suspicion was unbearable: not only the suspicion that every hindrance and hardship was caused by lingering and undefeated anti-Semitism, but the suspicions of suspicions being held by those who stayed and those who returned made honest discourse impossible. It was equally frustrating for those who had genuinely not supported the regime and genuinely welcomed the return of Korngold. But how could anyone know who was telling the truth about their past and their possible involvement? How could one know that the person one was dealing with was in fact not an unreformed anti-Semite and simply saying whatever was necessary in order to conform to the new order and keep food on the table? An interesting encounter that illustrates this distrust is the first post-war meeting, as described by Luzi, of Korngold with Ludwig and Willy Strecker, his former publishers at Schott. The Strecker brothers were joint owners of Schott and were severely compromised by their roles during the Hitler years. They had steered a dangerous and complex course with many of their most important composers on the NSDAP black-list. Meanwhile, it was assumed that Ludwig had joined the Nazi Party while Willy believed, as he wrote in a letter to Stravinsky, that ‘a long over-due clean-up was now underway’. Added to this damning evidence was the fact that Ludwig Strecker had written triumphalist Nazi inspired libretti under the name of Ludwig Andersen. Luzi describes the meeting as chilly, while mentioning that Erich took to them as if the previous years had simply not existed. He accepted without question their protestations that the world had now changed and they were no longer in a position to continue their former support of his music. When Luzi at least raises an eyebrow at perceived duplicity, Erich is quick to dismiss her doubts. He simply could not imagine that the brothers, whom he had known since childhood, would ever mislead him. Yet what was truly behind this exchange? Who was telling the truth? Could there ever be any trust again after such a terrible event and every appearance of betrayal? Erich was prepared to dismiss all doubts in the belief that harbouring any suspicions at all would be counter-productive. At a well-received performance of Die tote Stadt in Munich, Luzi recounts how she bumped into a visibly moved Ludwig Strecker. Given the uncertainties, how could anyone know what lay behind the tears streaming down his face? It was clear by 1951 that there was no point in remaining in Vienna following a disappointing critical reception to his opera Die Kathrin. As always, the public was enthusiastic, but the press was vicious and death threats allegedly sent to the lead meant the show was cancelled after only a few performances. A promised run of Die tote Stadt was thwarted by internal mischief-making and only confirmed Korngold’s feeling that he was unwelcome. Vienna and Austria were no longer home, and the family returned to Los Angeles. The ‘Letter Scene’ from ‘Die Kathrin’ as performed by Austrian State Radio Orchestra, Gottfried Kassowitz (cond), Ilona Steinburger Korngold announces and plays on the piano the Adagio from his Symphony in F# Like many displaced Austro-German composers, Erich decided to write a symphony, despite having shown scant interest in the idea before. A Symphony was something quintessentially, classically Viennese. If he could no longer live in the city of his youth, he could at least recall its timeless musical heritage by composing a ‘Symphony’. It would be followed by a short song with the title Sonett für Wien or Sonnet for Vienna and based on a poem by Hans Kaltneker who had written the play that would become Das Wunder der Heliane. This was followed by his Theme and Variations, Op. 42 – his very last work, composed in 1953. (Sonett für Wien – Sonnet for Vienna) Korngold was persuaded to return to Europe in 1954 to collaborate on a ‘bio-pic’ of Richard Wagner. He agreed on the condition that only music by Wagner be used and that it not be altered in any way. In addition, it allowed his son George to work on a film in such a way that he could obtain a Film Workers’ Union card and continue developing as a film editor upon his return to the States. Korngold even makes an appearance in the film as the conductor Hans Richter. In the end, Korngold’s confidence in Hollywood would not be restored. His reason for leaving the movies was quoted as “When I arrived in Hollywood, I didn’t understand the dialogue. . . . now I do!” Magic Fire was severely cut and the music of Wagner hacked apart as demanded by the distributors despite the agreement between Korngold and the producer William Dieterle. The Korngolds nevertheless decided to remain in Europe for a dismal performance of his Symphony given by the Vienna Symphony conducted by Harold Byrns and a superb performance of his opera Die tote Stadt in Munich. The press notices for the symphony were at least encouraging, while Die tote Stadt was savaged. Korngold knew how poor the results of the Symphony were and requested that the broadcast tapes be wiped. His most successful American work was his Violin Concerto, commissioned by Bronislav Huberman but ultimately performed and recorded by Jascha Heifetz. Today, it counts as one of Schott’s most lucrative works, but following its New York performance, it was dismissed with the same high-handed arrogance Korngold had come to expect from European critics. The world had moved on and the Late-Romantic nostalgia evoked by Korngold was spurned as ‘corny’. There can be nothing crueller for an artist than to be ignored or shunned as irrelevant. What killed Korngold? Photos show a robust, overweight man, but Luzi tells us he walked to work and we know he didn’t smoke or drink to excess. His father Julius lived until the age of 85, his mother even longer. Heart attacks shortly after the war were common to a number of exile composers. Some survived to fight another day such as Erich Korngold and Ernst Toch, while others such as Erich Zeisl and Kurt Weill were inexplicably felled. Lys Symonette, a friend of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya told me that it was Weill’s deep sense of loss of German identity that killed him. The American addiction to success must have added to the pressure, along with the lack of social and familial support, a macho culture that adjured asking for help and the sickening feeling that so many friends and relatives had been murdered. The last date accorded to a Korngold work is 1953 which meant he spent the three years until his stroke in 1956 without completing a single work. He intended to write another symphony and toyed with an opera based on Grillparzer, but nothing came of either project. With only 42 opus numbers to his name, one senses the intrusion he believed film music may have caused. Julius would have huffed that wasting time on arranging operettas was just as bad. By comparison, fellow Californian exile, former operatic rival and non-film music composer, Ernst Krenek finished some 240 works with opus listings and though he lived into his 90s, he had already reached Op. 42 by the mid-1920s. Upon leaving the world of American cinema, Korngold composed a piece of musical theatre forbodingly entitled The Silent Serenade, a work considerably more light-weight than any of his film scores, and redolent of pre-war Viennese cinema-kitsch. Irrepressible nostalgia can be the only explanation and it’s telling that it was composed before his return to Vienna in 1949. Korngold plays and sings wordlessly to ‘Die schönste Nacht’ from his ‘Die stumme Serenade’ The Silent Serende – or Die Stumme Serenade is all the more baffling as his third quartet in D major, composed as the war was coming to an end, led Luzi to believe it was confirmation he was leaving movie music for good. The quartet is certainly one of Korngold’s most serious and occasionally disturbing works. Chilingirian Quartet perform the third movement from Korngold’s Third String Quartet ‘Like a Folksong’ – a work that is both dark and unsettling Korngold suffered a stroke that left him largely incapacitated and dependent on his wife and children. He slowly learned to speak again and to write with his other hand, though he lost interest in composing. Luzi tells us that though he no longer found he could read, he continued to ask for scores which he pored over without difficulty. He was docile and childlike and his recovery was slow and only partial. Hitler’s forgotten victims are the many thousands – perhaps millions – who committed suicide in distant and forgotten corners of the world, unable to cope with new languages, reduced circumstances and in many cases, a hopeless feeling of irrelevance. It was undoubtedly Korngold’s sense that he too was irrelevant that brought on the stress that would kill him at the age of 60. He died believing he was the child prodigy who never grew up. No longer valued as a composer of the concert hall or the opera house, he was equally unwilling to return to the film studios where he would have been welcomed with open arms. His community of fellow exiles psychologically barred this particular path by convincing him that work as a film composer was unworthy of his talent. At the same time, no orchestra, conductor, pianist or opera house was prepared to commission a new work. For the music critic, he was the easiest of all targets and represented everything serious music was no longer allowed to be. No university or conservatory in either America or Europe bothered to consider him for a teaching position and not even America’s most provincial orchestras thought to invite him as conductor. Korngold was killed by the stress of irrelevance. The movie fan-mail never abated, but the general public, who had meant so much to him in the past, were no longer the arbiters of serious music. Post-war critics felt they had a responsibility to distrust the public and instinctively turned on anything and anyone the public appreciated. To some degree, he died because of the weight of the myths that had grown around him. One of the most deadly, even if true, was the belief that he was ‘the greatest’ of all prodigies, since he composed masterpieces from the moment he could hold a pencil. His genius was to synthesise the world around him into an individual and progressive musical language that was distinctive and unlike any dominant figure of the day. The presumption of metaphysical provenance of such talent weighed heavily on Korngold and influenced those around him into believing that he was wasting his gifts on ephemera that was forgotten by the following year. Yet his genius quite specifically elevated film music to the degree that it could never be forgotten. These conflicts, caused by a European cultural entitlement blind to the possibilities of new media, actually thwarted his gifts and created the inner stresses and strains that eventually brought him down. He was considered the ‘father of the Hollywood Sound’- and there is a certain symmetry in his two myths being related to him as ‘child’ and ‘father’. Yet he was most certainly not the father of the Hollywood Sound – there were many different fathers – but he was the composer who made film music serious music. You could come from the opera house or the Musikverein and write a score for Errol Flynn without feeling you had gone to the dogs. Sadly, he died believing another myth that we now know was patently untrue – that by writing film music, he had indeed ‘gone to the dogs’. Rare recording not used in the film of ‘The Constant Nymph’ of soprano Sally Sweetland, violinist Louis Kaufman and cellist Eleanor Aller Slatkin along with pianist Erich Wolfgang Korngold performing ‘Tomorrow’ Korngold died a child of a forgotten age when the realities of living in an unforgiving time dawned on him. To him, it seemed unfathomable that people would listen to music they couldn’t understand or made them feel bad or think negative thoughts. Music was meant to engage, inspire, excite and intoxicate and demonstrate to the listener that a better world was possible. Why would music need to remind the listener that the world was awful and getting worse? In a letter to Joseph Marx written shortly before his stroke, he puns about living in ‘an atomic age’, but spells ‘atomic’ in such a way that it blends into the word ‘atonal’: to Korngold, they both represented the same degree of baffling man-made self-destruction. Max Schonherr conducts the Austrian Radio Orchestra in his Theme and Variations Op. 42 – his last work completed in 1953

By Anthony St. Clair For the Oregon Beer Growler Whether a Eugene/Springfield local or visiting for a University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) home game at Autzen Stadium, it’s nice to have a pregame or postgame stroll … with beer, of course. The walking portion of this 1.5 mile route can be done in around 30 minutes. In addition to watering holes and restaurants, you’ll also take in an iconic cinema spot and go from near downtown Eugene to the heart of the UO campus. Sam Bond’s Brewing Co. 540 E. Eighth Ave. After parking your car in one of the city’s downtown garages (free on weekends), make your way east on foot, by taxi or by bus to our starting point. Nestled in between downtown and campus, Sam Bond’s is a natural evolution from its namesake, local favorite Sam Bond’s Garage. The iconic bar always has a good tap list, so it only made sense that the owners (also behind the scenes at both Plank Town locations and Cottage Grove’s The Axe & Fiddle) would want to dip their paddles in their own wort. You’ll start your tour with an excellent beer in a mellow setting: Think of it as the warmup stretch for the day’s stroll. Founded in 2013, Sam Bond’s Brewing supplies the Garage, and their 10-barrel brewhouse pumps out Northwest favorites, such as Sam I Am Beer (amber, get it?) and Crankshaft IPA, along with up-and-coming beers of interest: 50-Stone Scottish Wee Heavy, Accelerator ISA, Pre-Klassic Kolsch, and a stellar Filbert Brown made with hazelnuts. If your appetite needs food in addition to excellent beer, a full menu offers pizza, salads, paninis, pastas and more. Vegan and gluten-free options are available. Beer Nut Mix: Mixed nuts slowly caramelized in butter, brown sugar, spices and Filbert Brown Foundry Sampler: Seasonal assortment of cured meats, cheeses, tapenades and marinated vegetables with toasted bread Elk Horn Brewery 686 E. Broadway St. She’s from the Willamette Valley, he’s from Mississippi. When wife-and-husband team Colleen and Stephen Sheehan decided to step up from food cart to brewpub in 2014, it was only natural that they combine the Northwest’s food and drink sensibility with warm and welcoming Southern hospitality. The whiskey bar is well stocked, but the main event is Elk Horn’s 24 taps, pouring their own beers, ciders and sodas brewed by Rogue veteran Nate Sampson. (Lemon Pils just took home bronze for American- or International-Style Pilsener at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival.) The family-friendly space has racks for board games and plenty of big screens so you can catch the big game. If it’s nice, sit outside at least a little while: the comfortable, spacious screened patio quickly and surprisingly makes you forget that you’re near busy streets. The Northwest touch of Elk Horn’s food combines with a solid Southern pedigree, including hearty bowls, burgers, sandwiches, plus some salads and wraps to keep a few light touches. Hushpuppies filled with jalapeno cheddar, served with chipotle aioli Bayou Gumbo: chicken, shrimp, andouille sausage, okra, celery, bell pepper and onion, served with rice Cafe Yumm! - On Broadway 730 E. Broadway Just down from Elk Horn, our next stop brings us to a healthier, home-grown option. While waiting for your food, Ninkasi is on tap (with other wines and beers by the bottle). Raise a glass to Cafe Yumm! on Broadway, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday. Taking home The Register-Guard 2017 Readers' Choice awards for Lunch Bargain and Vegetarian (no easy feat in a former hippie town renowned for its veggie and vegan fare), Cafe Yumm! started in Eugene. Today, the Oregon benefit company has 20 locations in Oregon and Washington. Since you’re walking today, the six electric vehicle charging stations aren’t of use, but it’s good to know that you can charge your ride for free while you eat — and that this is the first restaurant in the country to offer solar-powered EV charging. Back to that food. Wraps, sandwiches and soups are available, but you are here for the Yumm! Bowl — and specifically, the magical, mysterious Yumm! Sauce. What’s in it? How does it get its savory yet tangy flavor? You will never know. You won’t care either, because this is the sort of vegetarian food that others aspire to (though chicken is available). Cafe Yumm! elevates humble rice and beans to satisfying, sumptuous fare, with organic ingredients, generous helpings of Yumm! Sauce, plus cheese, avocado, salsa, olives, sour cream and cilantro. It’ll fill both your body and your soul. Original Yumm! Bowl 751 E. 11th Ave. By now you are likely ready to walk and digest — a great time for an odd detour. Strolling south down Alder Street, we’ll turn right onto East 11th Avenue for the sake of seeing something that doesn’t exist anymore. Really, we’re paying some respect. 751 E. 11th Ave. is where parts of the 1978 zany classic “Animal House” were filmed. Home of the Psi Deuteron chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity from 1959-1967, the house fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1986. Today, perhaps as a sign of fate or irony, the site is now home to the School of Education and Counseling for Northwest Christian University. Head to the parking entrance and look for a boulder: it has a plaque that commemorates the Delta House location. Next time you watch “Animal House,” keep an eye out for other Eugene spots: much of the film was shot around the UO campus, the parade and road trip took place in Cottage Grove (and the marching bands were from Eugene’s own Sheldon and Churchill High Schools), and it’s thought that Greg and Mandy’s scene in the MG was filmed on top of Skinner Butte. Much of the movie’s wardrobe is local too: since John Landis had such a small budget, his wife Deborah thrifted for costumes at area secondhand stores. Nearly 40 years later, please stop and take a moment to reflect: No more will anyone dump a whole truckload of fizzies into the varsity swim meet. No one will deliver the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner. And no more will Halloween see the trees filled with underwear. Oh well. “Grab a brew. Don't cost nothin’.” Mashed potatoes and cheap lager 1214 Kincaid St. After stopping to reflect on what was and no longer is, it’s time to turn around and head back to Alder Street. We’ll continue south, going past a row of little shops and eateries that continues as we turn left and head east on East 13th Avenue. Turning left onto Kincaid Street, it’s time for a classic. Right across the street from the eastern edge of the UO campus and located in the historic John Rennie house (built in the 1920s), Rennie’s Landing is a favorite watering hole. “We love our Ducks,” they say at Rennie’s, “but opponent’s fans are welcome too.” Fair enough. Also open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sports of all kinds are showing on six TVs throughout the interior (and one more on the upper deck). Nine craft and specialty beers, two domestics and 2 Towns hard cider are pouring, but also check out the trademark Rennie’s Lemonade. Locally made art is sprinkled throughout the second floor, including sculptor David Thompson’s metalwork of a McKenzie River boatman, and paintings by George Von Der Linden (who also carved a signature whale over the fireplace). Over the front door hangs a large aerial photograph, taken in the 1930s, to help plan the site for what is now the Knight Library. Breakfast and a Bloody Mary until 1 p.m.: ‘nuff said Falling Sky Pizzeria & Public House 1395 University St., Room 46 Now we cross into campus itself, walking amidst the old brick and stone buildings and towering trees that give UO the world-apart feel unique to college campuses. Our final destination is at the heart of campus in the newly renovated Erb Memorial Union. The Pizzeria & Public House is Falling Sky’s third location (and part of why they expanded their downtown brewery). No stranger to local acclaim, Falling Sky recently was named one of the Best Microbreweries in The Register-Guard 2017 Readers’ Choice awards. Pouring 11 house and guest beers and ciders, Falling Sky offers a mix of seasonal, limited-release and flagship Northwest, Belgian-style, British-style, and German-style ales and lagers. Be sure to try Polar Melt Pale Ale, made with Glacier hops and a new yeast strain they’re experimenting with. This third location builds Falling Sky’s pizza menu that consists of house doughs, cured meats and produce that you’d find at the pizzeria’s sibling sites. Calzones, Italian sandwiches, soups, salads, bowls, wings and a kids menu are also available. Vegan & Loving It: Roasted vegetables, spinach, squash, garlic, vegan white bean and red pepper sauce The Reubenator: House-cured turkey pastrami, sauerkraut, caraway seeds, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing Now that you’ve reached the end of our walking tour, you still have options. If you want to venture some more, you are still a stroll, bus, or cab ride away from other restaurants, sports bars and more. Want to keep your walk going strong? Head to the nearby Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail System. A riverside walk and one footbridge can have you at Autzen Stadium in minutes. OBG Blog Archives Welcome to our archive pages! Read stories from the print edition of the Oregon Beer Growler from June 2012 to January 2018. For newer stories, please visit our new website at:

12 Oct With Adam in Catalonia I’m visiting my sister who lives on a hillside in Catalonia. No. She’s not called Adam. She’s Mary. Adam is the name of the car I hired from the airport in Barcelona. You never know what you’re going to get when you hire a car. My hand hesitated over the ‘economy’ range but, since it’s only me and a small suitcase, I went for ‘small’. Some rental companies would describe this class of car as ‘compact’, suggesting something not really small, just incredibly, desirably neat. The website might show you a flashy Fiat 500 with go-faster stripes, a sunroof and shiny bumpers. You rarely drive away in anything like the one in the picture. The best outcome I ever had was a couple of years ago when Enterprise in Glasgow ran out of basic cars in working order and had to upgrade me to a virtually new VW Sirocco. I drove off as if inside a cinema advertisement. I could hear the stirring music, see the sunlight playing on the metalwork and the sumptuous view of a rocky corniche beside a shimmering sea as I coasted along the M77 to Kilmarnock letting the wind blow through my hair. I made up the bit about the wind and the hair. It was raining. I kept the windows shut. This morning, red-eyed from an early flight and flummoxed by the unexpected shuttle bus journey to another terminal to find the car hire firm, I waited patiently for my turn to hear the financially crippling implications of a bump or scrape bigger than a 50 pence piece (or €2 – inflation, exchange rate). Risks laid bare and forms completed, I tootled off to the rental car compound where a young woman ushered me unenthusiastically to my tiny Opel Adam parked in bay 10. Dumpy, white and not that old, Adam has seen a few careless drivers; pock-marked bumpers and grazed paintwork – like acne on a teenage face. There’s always a catch in a hire car. Some mechanism you’ve never encountered before. A clever gismo to outwit you. Adam’s boot. Clicking the key once, twice, quickly, slowly. Searching for a hidden button inside and outside. Nothing would persuade it to open until, in frustration, I thumped it with my clenched fist and – whaddya know? It would be such a help if they would just explain things to you. Or include a manual. Why is there never a manual? Adam looks very sweet but he’s completely superficial. If I move his seat so that my arms reach the steering wheel comfortably, my feet don’t reach the pedals. I haven’t noticed it before, but is it possible that my arms and legs are poorly proportioned? Surely not. Adam is just badly designed. As is the compound. To leave you have to go through two automatic barriers. The first barrier was fine. At the second barrier, nothing happened. Reversed out. Tried again. Tried a different barrier. Nada! Back to the parking area to enquire. I’m told: ”the barrier lifts automatically”. It’s obvious they doubt my story or think I’m off my rocker. I try again. Same result. Back again, this time straight into the office where they tell me: “you have to press the button”. Not only do you have to press the button, you have to speak to a voice through the intercom to give the name of the hire firm. Automatic, huh? Flight time: 1 hour 50 minutes Car hire time: 1 hour 40 minutes Finally, I’m off. To the many splendours of the Spanish roads and the lovely wooded hillsides of Catalonia.

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French is the second most learned language in the EU and a popular choice in British schools. As a global language, French is the only language spoken on every continent along with English. Knowing and speaking French opens a whole new world in arts, literature, culture, music, cinema, and more, and it also opens a whole range of career opportunities. Wherever you want your child or teen to learn French, whatever type of activities you want them to do, Cactus has amazing French Summer Camps for your child or teen. Have a question? Why not Download our free Summer & Winter Language Camp Guide for Parents? ✅ Take a French Summer Camp in a wide range of locations across France ✅ Develop skills, fluency and confidence in the French language ✅ Great preparation for French GCSE or A Level ✅ Make new friends of the same age from all over the world ✅ Take part in a stimulating programme of social, sporting and cultural activities ✅ Courses available for children and young adults aged between 7-18 years ✅ Parents can often attend a course in the same location with our family courses ✅ Explore more reasons to send your child on a Summer Language Camp Cactus offers a range of options for French private tuition including one-to-one classes in your home and Skype lessons at the time and place of your choice. For more information about our private tuition options please visit our French private tuition division.

There's no doubting the influence that Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight saga has had on blockbuster cinema as a whole: his dark, gritty style has been adopted by numerous high-profile films, perhaps most obviously Sam Mendes' Skyfall, which was about as Batman as a James Bond film could ever be short of kitting Daniel Craig out in a Batsuit. With a mountain of critical acclaim and an even bigger pile of money generated from Nolan's franchise, the series is about as entertaining as Hollywood blockbusters can get, but even so, that doesn't mean the films aren't without their issues and gaping flaws that simply have to be accepted in order to still enjoy the movies. Plot holes and dubious logic are highly abundant throughout all three films, as well as some unfortunate technical issues, while Nolan's cold, "detached" directorial approach is also a bit of a problem, and of course, the trilogy is subject to the constraints of needing to print as much money as possible rather than trying something a little more daring and interesting. Though none of these problems ruin the franchise either together or on their own, they're each an issue (easily rectified in most instances) that fanboys need to stop defending and just accept: most of these moments are relatively troubling, but if you just relax and concede that these three excellent films are a little rough around the edges, you'll have an easier time watching them. Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.

It’s almost February 2018, so the Screeners thought it would be a good idea to go back and relive 2017...in cinema, at least. That’s right; it’s time for the annual Best of (insert last year) episode! There’s something for just about everyone in this year’s selections, whether, you saw 18 movies last year (like Josh) or closer to 18² (like Daniel). Join the Screeners as they laugh, cry, and unanimously deride Chris’s picks1. Once you’ve listened (and congratulations if you made it this far; we know it wasn’t easy), hop over to Facebook and send us your own picks! 1 OK; so in reality they might actually agree on most of them, but this sounded totally plausible, didn’t it?

Method and apparatus for composition of subtitles Embodiments of the invention include a subtitling format encompassing elements of enhanced syntax and semantic to provide improved animation capabilities. The disclosed elements improve subtitle performance without stressing the available subtitle bitrate. This will become essential for authoring content of high-end HDTV subtitles in pre-recorded format, which can be broadcast or stored on high capacity optical media, e.g. the Blue-ray Disc. Embodiments of the invention include abilities for improved authoring possibilities for the content production to animate subtitles. For subtitles that are separate from AV material, a method includes using one or more superimposed subtitle layers, and displaying only a selected part of the transferred subtitles at a time. Further, colors of a selected part of the displayed subtitles may be modified, e.g. highlighted. Latest THOMSON LICENSING Patents: - Scene graph for defining a stereoscopic graphical object - Antenna structure with dielectric loading - AN APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR GENERATING DATA REPRESENTATIVE OF A PIXEL BEAM - Method and apparatus for rendering object for multiple 3D displays - ELECTRONIC PROGRAM LISTING DISPLAYING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE AND NON-HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE PROGRAM SELECTIONS CROSS RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/800,418, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/535,106, filed May 16, 2005, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. This application claims benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/800,418, filed May 14, 2010, which claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §365 of International Application PCT/EP03/12261, filed Nov. 3, 2003, which was published in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on Jun. 3, 2004 in English and which claims the benefit of European patent application No. 02025474.4, filed Nov. 15, 2002. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for composition of subtitles for audio/video presentations, which can be used e.g. for HDTV subtitles in pre-recorded formats like the so-called Blue-ray Disc. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The technique of subtitling for Audio-Visual (AV) material has been used beginning with the first celluloid cinema movies and further until the recent digital media appeared. The main target of subtitling has been the support of handicapped people or small ethnographic language groups. Therefore subtitling often aims at the presentation of text information even when having been encoded as graphic data like pixel maps. Therefore pre-produced AV material for broadcasting (Closed Caption, Teletext, DVB-Subtitle etc.) and movie discs (DVD Sub-Picture etc.) primarily are optimized for subtitles representing simple static textual information. However, progress in PC software development for presentation and animation of textual information induces a corresponding demand for possibilities and features within the digital subtitling technique used for pre-recording and broadcasting. Using straightforward approaches without any special precautions, these increased requirements for subtitling would consume a too big portion of the limited overall bandwidth. The conflicting requirements for a ‘full feature’ subtitle encompassing karaoke all through genuine animations are on one hand the coding efficiency and on the other hand the full control for any subtitle author. For today's state of the art of digitally subtitling AV material with separate subtitling information two main approaches exist: Subtitling can be based on either pixel data or on character data. In both cases, subtitling schemes comprise a general framework, which for instance deals with the synchronization of subtitling elements along the AV time axis. Character Data Based Subtitling In the character-based subtitling approach, e.g. in the teletext system ETS 300 706 of European analog or digital TV, strings are described by sequences of letter codes, e.g. ASCII or UNICODE, which intrinsically allows for a very efficient encoding. But from character strings alone, subtitling cannot be converted into a graphical representation to be overlaid over video. For this, the intended character set, font and some font parameters, most notably the font size, must either be coded explicitly within the subtitling bitstream or an implicit assumption must be made about them within a suitably defined subtitling context. Also, any subtitling in this approach is confined to what can be expressed with the letters and symbols of the specific font(s) in use. The DVB Subtitling specification ETS 300 743, in its mode of “character objects”, constitutes another state-of-the-art example of character-based subtitling. Pixel Data Based Subtitling In the pixel-based subtitling approach, subtitling frames are conveyed directly in the form of graphical representations by describing them as (typically rectangular) regions of pixel values on the AV screen. Whenever anything is meant to be visible in the subtitling plane superimposed onto video, its pixel values must be encoded and provided in the subtitling bitstream, together with appropriate synchronization info, and hence for the full feature animation of subtitles all pixel changed must be transported. Obviously, when removing any limitations inherent with full feature animations of teletext, the pixel-based approach carries the penalty of a considerably increased bandwidth for the subtitling data. Examples of pixel-based subtitling schemes can be found in DVD's sub-picture concept “DVD Specification for Read-Only disc”, Part 3: Video, as well as in the “pixel object” concept of DVB Subtitling, specified in ETS 300 743. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the invention include a subtitling format encompassing elements of enhanced syntax and semantic to provide improved animation capabilities. The disclosed embodiments improve subtitle performance without stressing the available subtitle bitrate. This will become essential for authoring content of high-end HDTV subtitles in pre-recorded format, which can be broadcast or pressed on high capacity optical media, e.g. the Blue-ray Disc. The invention includes abilities for improved authoring possibilities for the content production to animate subtitles. Introduced by the disclosure are elements of syntax and semantic describing the color change for parts of graphics to display. This can be used for highlight effects in applications like for example karaoke, avoiding the repeated transfer of pixel data. Other disclosed elements of syntax and semantic facilitate the ability of cropping parts of the subtitles before displaying them. By using the technique of subsequently transferred cropping parameters for an object to display, a bit saving animation of subtitles becomes available. Such cropping parameter can be used for example to generate text changes by wiping boxes, blinds, scrolling, wipes, checker boxes, etc. Furthermore the disclosed elements can be used to provide interactivity on textual and graphical information. Especially the positioning and/or color settings of subtitles can be manipulated based upon user request. Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings and tables, which show: EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The invention can preferably be embodied based on the syntax and semantic of the DVB subtitle specification (DVB-ST). To provide improved capabilities for the manipulation of graphic subtitle elements, the semantics of DVB-ST's page composition segment (PCS) and region composition segment (RCS) are expanded. DVB_ST uses page composition segments (PCS) to describe the positions of one or more rectangular regions on the display screen. The region composition segments (RCS) are used to define the size of any such rectangular area and identifies the color-lookup-table (CLUT) used within. Embodiments of the proposed invention keeps backward compatibility with DVB-ST by using different segment_types for the enhanced PCS and RCS elements, as listed in The enhanced PCS shown in The enhanced RCS shown in The enhanced PCS and enhanced RCS elements provide the ability that subtitles can be manipulated independent from the encoding method i.e. independent from whether they are encoded as character data or pixel data. The enhanced PCS and RCS can be used to perform many different animation effects for subtitles. Those could be wiping boxes, blinds, scrolling, wipes, checker boxes, etc. The following figures show an application example for karaoke. The region sub-CLUT location shown in the lower part of Picking up all parameters defined with the previous figures results in the displayed subtitle as depicted in As the enhanced PCS are sent within MPEG packet elementary stream (PES) packets labeled by presentation time stamps (PTS), any effect can be synchronized to the AV. Another idea of the invention is the superseding of subtitle animation parameters by the user. This offers a way to realize interactive subtitles. The enhanced PCS parameters are transferred as a default, and the user may change them via a remote control for example. Thus the user is able to move, crop or highlight the subtitle. This could be an advantage for a user defined repositioning of a subtitling text, so that the user can subjectively minimize the annoyance by the subtitle text placement on top of the motion video. Also the color of the subtitles could be set according to users preferences. Another application for overriding subtitle animation parameters like position, cropping rectangle, CLUTs and sub-CLUTs is the realization of some very basic sort of interactive gaming. The subtitle may carry pixel data of an animated character. This character is subsequently moved on the display screen driven by either user interaction, programmatic control or both. The overriding of subtitle animation parameters can be implemented in at least two ways. The first option is that the overriding parameters SD replace the parameters DD send in the bitstream. The second option is that the overriding parameters SD are used as an offset that is added to or subtracted from the subtitle animation parameters DD send in the bitstream. The enhanced PCS and RCS provide a lot more of animation capabilities not explained. Following is a non-exhaustive list of examples: wiping boxes, blinds, scrolling, wipes, checker boxes in details. Exemplary video and graphics planes are shown in The apparatus contains a still picture decoder SPDec and an MPEG-2 video decoder MVDec, but since only one of them is used at a time, a switch s1 can select which data shall be used for further processing. Moreover, two identical decoders AVSGDec1,AVSGDec2 are used for decoding subtitle and animation data. The outputs of these two decoders AVSGDec1, AVSGDec2 may be switched by independent switches s2,s3 to either a mixer MX, or for preprocessing to a mixer and scaler MXS, which outputs its resulting data to said mixer MX. These two units MX, MXS are used to perform the superimposing of its various input data, thus controlling the display order of the layers. The mixer MX has inputs for a front layer f2, a middle front layer mf, a middle back layer mb and a background layer b2. The front layer f2 may be unused, if the corresponding switch s3 is in a position to connect the second AV sync graphics decoder AVSGDec2 to the mixer and scaler MXS. This unit MXS has inputs for front layer f1, middle layer m and background layer b. It superimposes these data correspondingly and sends the resulting picture data to the background input b2 of the mixer MX. Thus, these data represent e.g. a frame comprising up to three layers of picture and subtitles, which can be scaled and moved together within the final picture. The background input b1 of the mixer and scaler MXS is connected to the switch s1 mentioned above, so that the background can be generated from a still picture or an MPEG-2 video. The output of the first AV sync graphics decoder AVSGDec1 is connected to a second switch s2, which may switch it to the middle layer input m of the mixer and scaler MXS or to the middle back layer input mb of the mixer MX. The output of the second AV sync graphics decoder AVSGDec2 is connected to a third switch s3, which may switch it to the front layer input f1 of the mixer and scaler MXS or to the middle front layer input mf of the mixer MX. Depending on the positions of the second and third switch s2,s3, either the output of the first or the second AV sync graphics decoder AVSGDec1,AVSGD2 may have priority over the other, as described above. For having the data from the first decoder AVSGDec1 in the foreground, the second switch s2 may route the subtitle data to the middle back input mb of the mixer MX, while the third switch s3 routes the animation graphics data to the front input f1 of the mixer and scaler MXS, so that it ends up at the background input b2 of the mixer MX. Otherwise, for having the data from the second decoder AVSGDec2 in the foreground, the switches s2,s3 may route their outputs to the same unit, either the mixer and scaler MXS or the mixer MX, as shown in 1. Apparatus for composition of subtitles for audio/video presentations, wherein data streams containing video, audio and subtitle information are transferred from a storage medium, the apparatus comprising: - a processor for retrieving from said storage medium subtitle layer data, wherein the subtitle layer data contain graphic subtitle elements and data for a first color look-up table; - the processor extracting from said retrieved subtitle layer data subtitle display region information for defining a subtitle display region and subtitle display region cropping information, for cropping the display region, the subtitle display region cropping information comprising a parameter for horizontal position of the cropped subtitle display region, a parameter for vertical position of the cropped subtitle display region, a parameter for width of the cropped subtitle display region, and a parameter for height of the cropped subtitle display region; and - a renderer for enabling automatic cropping of rectangular parts of the subtitle elements to be displayed in the cropped subtitle display region; - wherein the cropped parts of the subtitle elements to be displayed are defined by said subtitle display region cropping information; and - wherein said first color look-up table is to be used within said cropped parts of the subtitle elements. 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Manuscript received Jun. 25, 2001, pp. 385-393. - Haitsma et al: “A Watermarking Scheme for Digital Cinema”, 2001 IEEE, pp. 487-489. - ETSI—ETS300743—Digital Video Broadcasring (DVB)—Subtitling system, pp. 1-45, Sep. 1997. Filed: Mar 25, 2014 Date of Patent: Aug 29, 2017 Patent Publication Number: 20170195618 Assignee: THOMSON LICENSING (Issy les Moulineax) Inventors: Dirk Gandolph (Ronnenberg), Jobst Hoerentrup (Wenningsen), Ralf Ostermann (Hannover), Hartmut Peters (Barsinsinghausen), Harald Schiller (Hannover) Primary Examiner: Daquan Zhao Application Number: 14/224,197 International Classification: H04N 9/80 (20060101); H04N 5/92 (20060101); H04N 9/82 (20060101); H04N 5/85 (20060101); G11B 27/034 (20060101); H04N 5/765 (20060101); H04N 5/932 (20060101); H04N 5/935 (20060101);

Paul Thomas Anderson’s (PTA) There Will Be Blood is a dizzying cinematic embodiment of American hypocrisy. Emboldened by brash aesthetic composition, a grinding instantly vintage soundscape from Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead fame) and a central performance from Daniel Day-Lewis that stands apart even from his already intimidating body of work. There Will Be Blood blends the pursuits of industry, the burden of conscience, the sleight-of hand religious manipulation and the savage truth of western frontier life to create a film that garners the same feeling as a renaissance fresco, gracing the walls of a holy place. The final film in the western quartet of 2007 is perhaps the one reckoning with America’s soul. 3:10 to Yuma puts a war veteran at its centre, facing a life changing physical loss and overcoming that challenge in the pursuit of justice, despite the fact that it’s in vain. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford reappraises American outlaw heroics with all the shades of madness, paranoia and egomania on its sleeve. No Country for Old Men immerses the audience in a domestic drug war to witness the mercenary players who’ve put a price on their morality. There Will Be Blood arrives on the crest of a wave of the public’s shame that the U.S had been falsely drawn into another conflict for the life blood of industry, oil. Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton became a magnet for controversy from 2003 surrounding contracts given to the company during the second Iraq War. Prior to There Will Be Blood, David Milch brought the series Deadwood to screens on HBO. This series charted the birth of modern civilisation from wilderness, lawlessness and how a resource like gold drastically expedites the structures of the world that we recognise (more on Deadwood in future columns). For There Will Be Blood we focus obsessively with Daniel Plainview, a gold man turned oil man. I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people. From the opening of the film, in the sparse wordless moments there’s an atmosphere of madness. While Plainview hasn’t spoken a word, we’ve watched him light the fuse on a stick of dynamite, try to pull a bucket of raw materials and equipment out of a shaft and take a horrific dive down a mine shaft that alters his gait for the rest of his days. The hysteria is present as he catches his breath when instead of thinking of his own health he instinctively checks the success of his explosive, spitting on dislodged rocks for signs of ‘colour.’ Within four years Plainview has shifted to the American lifeblood – oil bubbling beneath the surface. In a mere decade of evolution from limping loner to a commander of a legion of ‘oil men’, Plainview has adopted a ferocious yet effective method. He begins with assured and respectful confidence. Providing a reassuring, if slightly condescending pitch, softened by the plain and warm face of his adopted son H.W. He then stresses that this continued pursuit of fortune is one for his family. If there’s resistance, he’ll quickly play hardball and leave a bickering bunch of frontier folk to look past their greed to another ‘service provider.’ The deception is effortlessly natural. Even in his quiet confessional moments looking from a beautiful hill-top, down the arid vista of a yet to be unblemished land, Plainview says to his son H.W that he’ll be negotiating with his targets, the Sundays, using ‘quail prices’ and not ‘oil prices.’ In the very next moment and perhaps the next line of dialogue, he’s claiming that he “believe[s] in plain speaking.” Day-Lewis is an immersive force as Plainview. When he’s in control he’s an affable, if strange sort. PTA charges the audience with glimpses, if ever so rare, of a potentially sympathetic human underneath. However, when he’s being challenged or opposed he swells like his blood’s boiling, yearning for physical violence that’s signalled by his prominent vein bulging on his forehead. He’s repressing an inner, simian golem for those who would dare disrespect him. I work side by side with my wonderful son, H.W. The original savage truth of western life and of finding fortune is that you are in mortal peril. In a moment of strange predestination H.W’s biological father baptises his son with oil, only to be crushed by malfunctioning equipment in the following scene. PTA accommodated Day-Lewis’ extreme and all-consuming method acting approach, and as a result, H.W. had to be recast early in the film’s production. The recast young actor Dillon Freasier is a formidable young performer, clearly able to navigate when to be inquisitive with his father and when to adjust to the more totemic symbol of family to cut through to susceptible marks. Plainview’s competitors openly charge him with the accusation of exploiting H.W. Whether Plainview actually has the ability to care for H.W. or for his “brother from another mother” Henry (Kevin J. O’Connor) is another matter entirely. There are flashes of tenderness. In the early stages of the film as the pair travel on a train together across the countryside; as he’s nursing and coddling him as they are still soaked in oil after the accident that took his ability to hear. However, I remain profoundly ambivalent about their relationship after numerous viewings of the film. I’ve abandoned my child! I’ve abandoned my child! I’ve abandoned my boy! In my review of PTA’s subsequent film The Master, I wrote that the film “is less the ‘Scientology Exposed’ film that it’s being billed as and instead an illumination that the collective wounded populace of a war torn country are more susceptible to exploitation by opportunistic and morally devoid jackals.” There Will Be Blood poses that difficult chicken/egg origin question about the blooming branches of the Christian faith. Paul Dano is delicious and delirious as identical twins Paul Sunday and Eli Sunday. Firstly, Paul plants the seed of what will eventually be the Plainview large scale operation. With a $600 finder’s fee, he unleashes this force upon this family. His identical twin brother Eli won’t allow the family patriarch, his father, to be hoodwinked by Plainview, seeing straight through the cordiality and courtesy to a motive. The equally opportunistic Eli knows that the community surrounding this industry provides for him a chance to ascend to a position of power. He’s as enamoured with the opiate like effects of religious practice as Plainview is with oil. The oil is all consuming – drowning men in greed and opportunism; but the slick is difficult to remove. Eli manipulates Plainview into a Baptismal confession to swell his reputation and to figuratively and literally make him bend the knee to religion. Much like H.W.’s oil baptism earlier in the film, PTA is foreshadowing an inevitable reprisal for making Plainview endure this concentrated dose of humanity. When Eli returns clamouring into the presence of Plainview, he doesn’t realise he’s walking into the jaws of a man recently shed of any ties to the connections to the world. “I… drink… your… milkshake!” The devastatingly quotable final scene of There Will Be Blood often inspires laughter. It’s not a pleasurable chuckle, there’s no mirthful satisfaction. It’s a reaction of sheer discomfort, of shock and tension; your body contorts and busts out something to defuse the realisation. In the final moments in the opulent mansion as Plainview descends upon the defenceless, weak and callow Eli, the devastating realisation is that there’ll be no consequence for his actions. What’s more, his greed, manifesting in a slovenly life eating off of the ground in his bowling alley and bludgeoning this parasitic snake-oil religious man to a bloody death is as inconsequential as spilling food on the polished hardwood flooring. As we see Plainview’s Butler descend into this monster’s lair muttering; one can’t help but hear a muted but deafening irony in 2007. Oil men like Plainview who industrialised the frontier heralded the end of the old west and perhaps its men of morality and values as we know it. PTA and Day-Lewis don’t appear to reset compasses with this vision of the west, but instead to show the audience that the point was spinning like a tornado. A Michael Mann fanatic all the time, Blake Howard is an Aussie film writer, editor and member of the Online Film Critics Society. Co-founder of the acclaimed Australian film website Graffiti with Punctuation, he offers articulate analysis across the gamut of cinema from blockbusters to indies galore. A former co-host of That Movie Show 2UE, he’s also behind the top-rating film podcasts such as Pod Save Our Screen and The Debrief, a freelance contributor to outlets from Penthouse to ABC News 24, and a co-host of the weekly ‘Gaggle of Geeks’ on 2SER radio.

Learn how to handle yourself on camera Date Ideas – From First Date To 50th Anniversary Something for everyone: Food, adventure, relaxed activities, and adrenaline-pumping experiences Last update: 1 February 2019 Splendid natural beauty, a friendly atmosphere and glorious weather make Cape Town a prime place to fall in love. With trendy eateries, cosy bars and scenic wine estates on every corner and a plethora of fun activities at every turn, the city is chock-a-block with great options for a memorable romantic rendezvous, whether it’s a first date or a 50th anniversary. I PROMENADE YOU A GOOD TIME Walk off any tension along the city’s iconic beachside path. The broad, paved promenade path that stretches along the curves of the Atlantic Seaboard offers spectacular views of the ocean and sunsets. There are beaches, a lighthouse and plenty of art installations along the way that serve as great talking points. Test your skills, patience or sense of humour with a game of putt-putt at the seaside mini golf course and stroll to the Mojo Market off Regent Road for a bite to eat in a casual setting. Read more about things to do in Sea Point. PENGUINS MATE FOR LIFE Stoney Point in Betty’s Bay and Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town are two of the only large endangered African Penguin colonies accessible from the mainland on our coast. And a visit can make a pretty cool date. Especially at Boulder’s, where there’s a boardwalk along the nesting site that’s free, but there’s also the option of paid entry (about R70pp, phone:+27 (0)21 786 2329) to the private beach, where you can also picnic and swim in the ocean. IF YOUR LOVE BURNS LIKE FIRE Picnics are a winner because you can control the budget. Make this one meaningful by picnicking in the exquisite Harold Porter National Botanical Garden in Betty’s Bay. Some parts of the garden got burnt in the recent fires, but most of it survived, and did you know that fire enables fynbos to regenerate. What a lovely metaphor for love. You can find more awesome picnic spots. A SCENIC SWEAT SESH The most famous landmark in the city is a mountain, and there are plenty more to explore. Peace, quiet, fresh air, beautiful scenery and hiking and walking trails that raise your heart levels to varying heights are waiting to be discovered. Heading out on picturesque hikes is a sure-fire way to connect with your date while at the same time connecting with nature. The spectacular scenery is a great excuse to take lots of photos and the endorphins rushing between you could reach new highs. From the Pipe Track to Tranquility Cracks, we have a selection of hikes for all levels. COCKTAILS AS THE SUN SETS Sipping interesting drinks while toasting the sun dipping down into the horizon is part of a tried-and-tested formula for dating success. Choose from a diverse range of bars and lounges offering an assortment of city, mountain or sea views. Trendy Cause & Effect in Park Road in Gardens or Bascule Bar at the V&A Waterfront offer some prime spirit concoctions or head out to the colourful Caribbean-inspired Cape to Cuba restaurant and bar, which rests on the water’s edge at Kalk Bay (their mojitos are world-renowned). Alternatively, you could make your own and taxi to Signal Hill and watch the sunset. Sample the likes of crushed coconut mojitos or candyfloss gin cocktails and say cheers to a good evening. Check out the spectacular location of Tobagos or choose from our epic selection of cocktail spots. LIFE’S A BEACH Salt, sand and sun is a good look in Cape Town. Bronze your skin, splash in the waves, play bat ‘n ball and do some people-watching with your date. A picnic at Llandudno is the perfect scenic setting for indulgence. Don’t forget your sunglasses and sunblock! Visit some hidden gems with our overview of beaches in Cape Town. OUTDOOR FILMS AT THE GALILEO OPEN AIR CINEMA Watching a movie is almost counter-intuitive when going on a date with someone you want to get to know, but this is a little different. Not only do you get to watch a film of your choice on a big screen, but also in a beautiful outdoor location, sitting on the ground leaning against a comfy backrest, under a blanket, beneath the stars. Arrive early to play games like giant Jenga or croquet, or do some hula-hooping before picking up some pizza or tacos from one of the food stalls. Get the schedule and read more about The Galileo Open Air Cinema. Various venues | +27 (0)71 471 8728, email@example.com SUNSET BOAT CRUISE FROM THE V&A WATERFRONT It doesn’t get more romantic than boarding a catamaran at the V&A Waterfront, sipping drinks and cruising out the harbour on tranquil waters. Behold the mountains from a different perspective and marvel at how the shape of Lion’s Head changes from different angles. Toast the day while watching the glowing sun dip down into the ocean and enjoy the live DJ and dinner on a luxurious cruise that the two of you will never forget. Read more about the weekly sunset cruise. Pier Head, T Jetty (next to clock tower), V&A Waterfront | +27 (0)21 418 0241 GETAWAY FROM IT ALL While not exactly suitable for a first date, a weekend away together is the mother of all dates. Leave your work and worries at home and be in the present at your new home away from home for a couple of days. Enjoy the fresh scenery and exciting activities on offer and you may even return with a fresh perspective on life. From a winelands stay in Franschhoek to a cave campsite where intrepid explorers stay in a natural cave, there’s plenty to choose from our budget getaways and romantic weekends. TAKE ME TO THE MARKET Markets are not what they used to be. Does your date agree? Oranjezicht City Farm Market at the V&A Waterfront is very sexy for a first date, and now it’s open Sundays too. Or visit The Fort Food Truck Market at Fort Wynard for some interesting scenery and a little history lesson for the curious. You could even opt to make a day of it at the Art Deco and Art Nouveau-inspired Elgin Railway market. Do you know of any other markets that belong in the top ten? Make the most of summer and head to the waters while temperatures are still soaring. Whether a public pool like the Sea Point Pavillion or an open-to-the-public pool like the Cloud 9 rooftop bar and pool, your partner really can’t judge you by the amount of flesh you show on a date at the pool. See what’s open from Cape Town’s selection of public pools and other pools that are open to the public. Alternatively, make an adventure out of it at Miller’s Point or Soetwater or by exploring some natural tidal pools. SECRET ROMANTIC SPOTS Show off your prowess by hunting down a secret spot that will blow your date’s mind. It could be what the locals call Sunset Rocks, located right at the end of Ocean View Drive. This is a natural collection of flat granite boulders that overlook Clifton and Camps Bay. Here, you can relax and watch the sunset from a phenomenal outdoor vantage point. See what else is on our bucket list of Cape Town activities. SOPHISTICATED, ROMANTIC AND VIBEY Situated in the heart of the Mother City, on iconic Heritage Square just off bustling Bree Street, Headquarters (HQ) is renowned for its no-fuss, full-flavoured food offering. It’s sleek, soulful and well-established with a reputation built over the past decade on the Cape Town restaurant scene. Tap into their awesome specials and discover why HQ regulars return week after week for cocktails, mouthwatering steaks and more. Read more about Headquarters Restaurant. Heritage Square, 100 Shortmarket Street | +27 (0)21 424 6373, firstname.lastname@example.org MAKE THEM LAUGH There are few better ways to set first date nerves at ease than with some hearty giggles and guffaws brought on by top-notch stand-up comedy. Bond and laugh together while engaging with some of the country’s finest comedians as they perform. Nobody leaves without a good, gut-busting ab workout so why not indulge in some tipple from the bar and the Jou Ma Se Gatsby, their very own version of the Cape Town gatsby: a half-sized baguette filled with lamb, fries, lettuce, tomato, and homemade mint sauce. Read more about the Cape Town Comedy Club. COSY UP BY THE FIREPLACE Just because it’s cold out doesn’t mean you need to hibernate. Leave your hot-water bottle at home and seek a restaurant with a fireplace to cosy up with your date. Head to Piano Bar or the eponymous Kloof Street House for a warm atmosphere. There are plenty to choose from in our selection of bars and restaurants with fireplaces. LOVE LIVE JAZZ Jazz is hands-down one of the most romantic and relaxing genres of music; guaranteed to make you feel lazy like a Sunday morning. To truly transport you to another era, there are live jazz performances at The Art Of Duplicity speakeasy in the East City Precinct. After you make the required reservation, you'll be added to the mailing list and receive the monthly jazz line-up. Read more about the Art Of Duplicity or choose from our round-up of places to watch live jazz. SIP AND SWIRL Red, pink and white and bursting with flavour. Impress your date with your taste in wine and enjoy a classy time out together. Our local wineries offer all sorts of entertainment including beautiful locations, wine tastings, art, live music and food. Head out to a winery of your choice for wine tastings or learn what’s on the list of South Africa’s best wine. DATE IDEAS FOR TEENS It’s awkward being a teen, full stop, but there are more opportunities for activities than ever before. Films, games, arcades, activities, the outdoors, and the list goes on with few limitations for teens. Battery Park at the V&A Waterfront offers a free skate park and basketball court. There are beaches, gardens, cafes, pools, putt putt and fun activities galore. Check out our suggestions for activities for teens. KISS ME ON A KAYAK You, me, the open water and a kayak. Get the adrenaline pumping with an exciting excursion on the ocean. View the city from a different perspective and you also have the chance of seeing penguins, dolphins, seals and whales. Read more about kayaking in Cape Town. RUN FOR AN ENDORPHIN RUSH Put on your neon running shorts and hit the park, the road or the trails for an endorphin rush that will leave you both with a glow. Head to Silvermine for beautiful trails and fresh air and a spot of exploring in our beautiful great Cape outdoors. Fitness and friendships of all sorts pair well, so have a look at our selection of running routes. TRY SOMETHING NEW Trying a new activity has the potential to bring you closer together. Learning to kitesurf is exhilarating and quite addictive based on all the colourful kites you can see in the kitesurfing hotspot of Blouberg with Table Mountain in the yonder. Read more about kitesurf lessons and free yoga. It’s the month of love, so check out our events for (music, beer and sport) lovers in our February events. For the risque, check out some interesting Cape Town places to get it on. Use our events section for an up-to-date overview of what’s happening in the city, ‘burbs and dorpies. Join our newsletter and get quick access on the go by adding us to your mobile home screen for the ultimate guide to discoveries in Cape Town. Follow and like us on Twitter ❤ Facebook ❤ LinkedIn ❤ Instagram ❤ Pinterest for updates.

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal have been together for the longest of time now. Even though they have been always been extremely tight-lipped about their romance, their regular dinner dates and mini vacays give us enough proof of their rock solid relationship. While Varun was not that open about girlfriend Natasha before, the couple made it some sort of official this year by attending Sonam Kapoor’s wedding reception together. Ever since then, we have often snapped Natasha bonding with Varun’s family. Opening up for the first time about his happy space with his childhood sweetheart, Varun exclusively spoke to Filmfare about his wedding plans, the influence of girlfriend of Natasha in his life and more. Of late, you seem to be getting more comfortable about being publicly seen with your girlfriend Natasha Dalal. What has led to this change? I didn’t care about all this even before. If you dig up some files from three years back, you’ll see us together at several places. I’ve always been comfortable about it. The idea was to make the other person comfortable. Everyone is not born in the industry. So everyone’s not as excited to be part of the glamour world. Natasha isn’t excited? Not at all. She’s okay with it. She believes I’m the actor. I’m the one entertaining people. So, she understands why I get clicked. But she doesn’t understand what she has to do with it. Does it help to have someone not from the industry? Yeah, it’s amazing. We were in school together. So we’ve got a lot of common friends. I have a life besides the movies. There are so many other things that we discuss apart from films. Her influence in your life? Actually, I decided to do a film like Badlapur or October because of her. It’s because of her and some of our friends that I do slightly different films. They like such kind of cinema. What’s special about our relationship is that I have someone, who isn’t with me just because I’m an actor. It’s amazing to have someone like that in your life. We bond over each other and that’s the main thing. We’ve known each other for too long, so the connection is deep. It’s like family. It’s always been so. How does she react to stories about your alleged affairs? She doesn’t react. Honestly, it doesn’t matter now. She’s read so many stories. Even when I’m with her, there’s a story of me being somewhere else. She’s grown used to it by now. We’ve never let that be part of our relationship. I’ve always wanted to have a world outside films. My first love is films and everyone in my life knows that. After that come Natasha, my family and my friends. I just don’t make relationships to let go of them. So when do you plan to get married? I’m for it. I don’t know when. But I’m totally for it for sure. Recommended for You Loading Next Article...

An Actor Needs to Feel Good // Motamed Aria Gives Acting Tips 26 April 2016 - 15:22 Acclaimed Iranian actress, Fatemeh Motamed Aria, talked about acting requirements at the Darolfonoun Section. According to the public relations office of the 34th FIFF, Darolfonoun’s last workshop was held at the Festival Palace on Monday, April 26th. She was welcomed to the stage by Maziar Miri. Iranian director and head of the Darolfonoun Section, Maziar Miri, took the stage at the beginning of the session and said, “Motemad Aria is among those actors who like cinema for the sake of cinema!” Later on, a documentary, directed by Bahman and Bahram Ark, was screened. Feeling really touched by what she had seen, Motamed Aria said, “That was a very good example of what a film must make you feel like. It contained love and passion! The love for cinema that is actually what has put us together today. Today, I’d like to share my acting experiences with you.” Unlike the workshops which were held throughout the festival, this workshop was devoid of any theoretical discussions. It actually involved a lot of body movements. The students were introduced to different gestures and movements and taught to use their bodies correctly. In a friendly manner, the star of “Gilaneh” said, “We’re rude people! We haven’t even been taught to breathe well. You should practice everywhere and also teach others how to breathe appropriately. This is one of the requirements of having a healthy lifestyle.” She emphasized, “Training your body makes it more and more flexible. You ought to know your body in order to be more successful in whatever career you have.” She added, “If you’re expecting good things to come toward you, don’t turn back and look at the past. You should put the past behind. This is what I’ve personally been learning since my childhood.” She then asked the students to suppose they’d been at an army camp and take all their body organs under control. “You can take any role if you learn to control your body.”, said Motamed Aria. “You must know you’re all cultured! So you should know how to breathe, see, hear, etc.” - Exclusive Interview with Mario Damas Nunes; The Critic Ambassador - Ebrahim Haghighi, Iranian Graphic Designer : 34th Fajr Deserved International Title - We Screen Iranian Film In Our Festival As the Attractive Part of it; Anthelme Vidaud from Odessa International Film Festival - The Festival Ambience Is Great/There Are New Talents In Iran Cinema// Interview with Eivind Grotteland from Norway and Pascal Traechslin from Switzerland - Sergey Mokritskiy, Director of “I’m A Teacher”: Literate Russians Know Iran Very Well

October Online Reading Group and Discussion - #fight4edu Please join this student-led reading group, Teaching the Humanities as a Survival Skill. This is the third of eight conversations in The University Worth Fighting For, a year-long project designed to tie student-centered, engaged practices in our classrooms to larger issues of institutional change, equality, race, gender, and all forms of social justice. We hope community college, undergraduate, and graduate students anywhere will join this conversation, and we hope faculty members might challenge their students to contribute. We encourage lively debate, respectful of difference. Previous Conversations in the Series: - “Towards a Pedagogy of Equality,” August 2015 - “Peer Mentoring and Student-Centered Learning,” September 2015 Each month, we host a livestreamed workshop that corresponds to the online forum. Here are the details for this month: Teaching the Humanities as a Survival Skill How Do I Join the Conversation? Add comments in the comments section below, and on Twitter using #fight4edu. HASTAC is an open, free network. Log in or register as a new user to leave a comment. Discussion Group Leaders: - Mike Rifino, The Graduate Center, CUNY - Mirabeth Braude, Michigan State University, Writing, Rhetoric, American Cultures - James Hammond, University of Michigan, Joint Program in English and Education - Erin Parish, Duke University, Cultural Anthropology - Kristopher Purzycki, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies HASTAC and The Futures Initiative Suggested Readings and Viewings: - "The Humanities at the End of the World" by Alexander I. Jacobs (Chronicle of Higher Education) - "Humanities Strengthen Science" by Elizabeth H. Simmons (Inside Higher Ed) - "We don’t need more STEM majors. We need more STEM majors with liberal arts training" by Loretta Jackson-Hayes (Washington Post) - "STEM from the humanities: How visual arts, empathy and storytelling fuel innovation" by Benjamin Custer (Peninsula Press) - "Do Colleges Need French Departments?" Multiple contributors (Room for Debate, New York Times) - "Why Study Humanities? What I Tell Engineering Freshmen" by John Horgan (Scientific American) - "Why Storytelling Will Be the Biggest Business Skill of the Next 5 Years" by Shane Snow (HubSpot Blogs) - "Advice on Writing From The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates" by Emma Green (The Atlantic) - "Techno-velcro to Techno-memoria" Multiple contributors (Kairos) - "Why Study Humanities? To Reclaim a Legacy: A Report on the Humanities in Higher Education" (Higher Education Resource Hub) - "Studying the Humanities Always Will Be Important" by Elwood Watson (Diverse Issues in Higher Education) - Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address - "From Second Best to Source of Pride: A Bright Future for Community College" by Eduardo Vianna (Noodle) - "The Humanities As Survival Skill" by Cathy N. Davidson (HASTAC) - "Humanities research is groundbreaking, life-changing… and ignored" by Gretchen Busl (The Guardian) Share your thoughts, questions, and other resources. Join the discussion by adding your comment below! You can also participate by tweeting at #fight4edu and #NEHturns50, as we will connect this discussion with the NEH's 50th anniversary celebration of the humanities.

I wrote this blog post weeks ago in the darkest hour of a sleepless night and left it, unsure whether it would ever see the light of day. Publishing it today is a reminder to myself of my love for America, at a time when many are feeling shaken and confused about the country’s future. A lot has changed since I first stood, wide-eyed, outside Port Authority at 19 years old. I had just stepped off my first flight and until that point, only ever experienced the bustle of Manhattan’s streets through cinema’s lens. Though that initial visit was only long enough for me to buy a Schnapple and gawp at Times Square before heading upstate for the summer, it set in motion a decade-long love of the city that never sleeps. Since clapping eyes on that famous skyline in 2004, I’ve returned a further three times – an homage to how fond I’ve become of the Big Apple and how lucky I’ve been to have natives who have been generous enough to blow up the air mattress whenever I’ve been in town. My second visit in 2005 ticked off the typical tourist haunts – the Empire State, the Chrysler Building and the Rockerfeller Center. I walked up and down Fifth Avenue, wishing I had more dollars in my pocket. I took the Staten Island ferry and said hello to Lady Liberty as we sailed past. I snapped a picture of the former Domino sugar factory – sadly no more. During the freak heatwave of 2012, I sat in Central Park and melted like a true English Rose. I walked along the High Line, sharing it with just a handful of people because the secret wasn’t yet out. I lingered over coffee in Williamsburg’s cafes, half expecting to bump into the cast of Girls. I went to flea markets, used the toilet in Katz’s and went to a record launch attended by some of the coolest kids in the LGBTQ scene. I was very uncool by comparison. Four years later and I was back again. Having been fortunate enough to have seen so many of New York’s popular attractions already, my trip in September gave me the chance to explore even more corners of the city, punctuated at timely intervals with eating and drinking in places the guidebooks try to keep quiet. Day one saw us take in an unobstructed view of Manhattan’s skyscrapers at Brooklyn Heights before hopping on a ferry and taking a waterside tour of the island’s neighbourhoods. At Greenpoint we took a punt on lunch at an unassuming taqueria, where I rediscovered frozen magaritas for the first time since the tequila-riddled Spring Break of 2007. Stuffed with black beans and avocado, we ambled into Williamsburg where we bought thyme and olive oil chocolate from Mast Bros, made like magpies in Catbird and ran our hands through racks of $100 shirts in high-end boutiques. Later, our 90-minute commitment to the line at Pies and Thighs was rewarded with juicy chicken pieces and smoky pulled pork served with a side of creamy, cheesy grits. Day two began with breakfast cocktails at brunch spot Rose Water in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood, which were the perfect accompaniment to our poached eggs and sweet potato falafel combo. We then headed into the city, passing through Grand Central station and its whispering walls, before embarking on some much required retail therapy. Laden with bags and giddy after spotting Kim Sears and Baby Murray in Bryant Park, we headed to La Esquina, where I had made reservations the required month in advance. The darkened bodega basement stole our hearts with its tapas-style plates and Mezcal drinks in a variety of sweet and sour flavours, but it was the rich and sticky heap of rib meat which left us raving. With room for dessert, we found ourselves at Morgenstern’s indulging in salted chocolate ice cream garnished with shards of sesame honeycomb. We leisurely ate as we walked towards the Woolworth Building, where we had secret access not only to one of the sets of Ugly Betty, but views of the city’s countless flickering lights. The evening’s finale came in the form of a wildcard trip to the night courts, where the wheels of justice creaked into the early hours. We watched as a trickle of defendants were casually dealt with by a judge who waved them away with court dates and fines – a far cry from the stuffy tradition and procedure of England’s magistrates’ courts. A final day wandering the streets of the Lower East Side saw us lazily pinball between cafes, bars and shops. In need of culture, we took in a tour of the Tenement Museum to learn about some of the neighbourhood’s former residents, before heading back to Williamsburg. A goodbye dinner at The Four Horseman – brainchild of LCD Soundsytem frontman, James Murphy – left us all crossing forks over the last mouthful of a sublime sugarsnap and cashew salad. On the way home, the remenants of Hurricane Hermine – which had threaten to rain down the whole weekend – finally rattled through the night, as if it had politely waited for my trip to end. I dozed off, wondering how soon I could impinge upon my friend’s kindness again and whether it was possible to every really be ‘done’ with New York. I decided not and went about plotting my return.

Recipe: Skillet Toast with Radish-Olive Salad | KCET Recipe: Skillet Toast with Radish-Olive Salad Skillet Toast with Radish-Olive Salad Serves 2 to 4 as a snack I recently packed up all my cooking tools and moved across the country. I arrived in Brooklyn before the boxes did, and I set about trying to cook with limited kitchen equipment. The first thing I made was skillet toast, a thick slice of bread toasted in a pan with a generous amount of butter. It's a simple recipe, but it also leads to one of the most delicious snacks. You can top your skillet toast with spoonfuls of jam, a drizzle of honey, or with a jumble of radish-olive salad. 1 bunch radishes 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1½ teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric ¼ teaspoon ground Aleppo pepper 1 tablespoon chopped chives 5 - 7 basil leaves, thinly sliced 5 Castelvetrano olives Unsalted butter, as needed 2 (½-inch-thick) slices of country bread Thinly slice the radishes and place them in a bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice, pour in the olive oil, and toss to coat the radishes. Sprinkle the turmeric, Aleppo, chives, basil, and a pinch of sea salt over the radishes. Press the heel of your palm on each olive until it smashes under the weight and the pit comes loose. Slice the smashed olive pieces into thin strips. Add the olives to the radishes and mix well. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Generously butter both sides of the bread. Place the bread into the skillet and set some sort of weight on top. (I use a smaller skillet, but a heat-safe plate would work.) Toast the bread on the first side until it is brown and crisp, about 1 minute. Flip and toast the second side. Slice the toasts in half to make 4 pieces. Pile the radish-olive salad on top of each piece, season with a pinch of flaky salt, and serve right away. A Q&A will immediately follow the screening with director Gavin Hood. Southland law enforcement groups and community organizations today hailed the governor's signing of legislation that redefines when officers and deputies can use deadly force. A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was fired over domestic violence allegations but rehired after Alex Villanueva was elected sheriff was ordered by a judge today to surrender his badge and gun. Following a screening of “Brittany Runs A Marathon,” screenwriter and director Paul Downs Colaizzo joins KCET Cinema Series host Pete Hammond for a post screening Q&A. - 1 of 198 - next ›

Station Casinos denies marketing Mount Rose Hwy. property for sale Station Casinos denied that it is seeking offers for its remaining south Reno property after documentation showed that the company was preparing to put its land by Mount Rose Highway for sale. "We are not actively marketing the site for sale," said spokeswoman Lori Nelson. Documentation acquired by the Reno Gazette-Journal Tuesday evening showed that the company was in the early stages of seeking offers from interested parties for the 88-acre property near The Summit Reno. The land represents the final piece of property for Station Casinos in south Reno, where it also previously sold a 101-acre parcel in November 2014. The information in the documentation was confirmed Wednesday morning by a representative of the commercial real estate firm overseeing the property. Colliers International in Reno also represented Station in the sale of several other properties in the area. Ted Stoever, senior vice president of land and investment properties for Colliers International in Reno, said pricing has yet to be set for the remaining south Reno land but it has garnered plenty of interest from various parties. The land sits right across The Summit as well as the planned Summit Club apartments. “We’ve talked to master plan developers and also received a lot of interest from smaller developers to do a hotel site, fast food, small commercial and residential,” said Stoever, who was reached by phone Wednesday morning. “Eventually, it will be a true mixed-use site with a little bit of everything.” The Gazette-Journal also reached out Wednesday morning to Station Casinos, which provided its response in the afternoon. Colliers International is declining further comment. The land on Mount Rose Highway and South Virginia Street is the last piece of property owned by Las Vegas-based Station Casinos in Reno aside from the planned casino site across from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. The company, which acquired several properties in Reno as part of big development plans in the area prior to the recession, has already sold a 101-acre site in south Reno as well as five buildings near the convention center. This leaves the planned Station Casinos across from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center as the only remaining property for the company in Reno once the 88-acre land is sold. Although it has downsized its original plans for Northern Nevada, Station is moving forward with its planned casino. The facility recently received approval from the Reno City Planning Commission and also survived a challenge from Atlantis parent company Monarch Casino and Resort at a city council meeting in early November. Plans for the facility include a sports book, sports bar, bowling alley, cinema and four restaurants.

'Hobbs & Shaw' director hosts film premiere in Sheboygan for family, friends SHEBOYGAN - On a sunny, 70-degree afternoon, you'd expect large crowds down by the lake or close to the pier getting ice cream with friends. Instead, Theater 1 at Marcus Sheboygan Cinema was the place to be Friday. People gathered just before 1 p.m. at a table of popcorn and soda with tickets in hand to "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw." The new movies stars Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba. This wasn't just any movie premiere, though. It was a special screening hosted by the film's director David Leitch. Leitch grew up in Kohler, just about ten minutes down the road from the theater. Many of his friends, family members and neighbors were in attendance. "This is pretty amazing and humbling, so I might get a little nervous and emotional," Leitch said as he introduced the film to the crowd of about 50 people. He said family plays a major role in the movie — even with all of its fight scenes and explosions. "There's a real message about reconnecting with the ones you love and going home," said Leitch, whose directing credits also include "Atomic Blonde" and "Deadpool 2." The cast of "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" had a mantra: "In Dave Leitch We Trust." See Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby talk about the action director. Universal Pictures And while there will be no spoilers here, Leitch hinted at a plot point as he introduced the film. "It shouldn't take a world-ending virus to call your mom," he said. Kelly McCormick, a producer of the film and Leitch's wife, was also present for the premiere. She encouraged everyone to have a great time watching the film. "It's a rowdy a movie, so just have fun," McCormick said. As the movie began and everyone, including Leitch, settled back in their seats, there was really only one thing to know: All roads lead home.

This year marks another significant step in moviemaking – the release of The Hobbit marks the first time a major movie has been shot in 48fps. This high frame rate is being pipped by directors such as Peter Jackson and James Cameron as the future of filmmaking, and there's even talk of pushing the speed of frames even higher to 60fpr. These higher speeds are said to complement 3D, smoothing out the picture and enhances the effect. But there has been criticism that it makes movies look too real – which isn't great when you are trying to depict a fantasy world and it ends up looking like a kitchen sink is a Mike Lee movie. To gain a better understanding of high frame rates, TechRadar spoke to image technology director at THX to get his expert opinion on the matter… TechRadar: With James Cameron and Peter Jackson embracing higher frame rates, does this mean that 3D is no longer the 'future of tech'. Or will higher frame rates enhance the technology? Kevin Wines: No, in fact the high frame rate activity by Cameron and Jackson is in conjunction with 3D, creating a better overall experience for 3D viewers. High frame rates overcomes some of the technical limitations of 3D implementation such as sequential playback of the eyes that are captured simultaneously. TR: Why is the time right for higher frame rates? Is Warner taking a gamble using this tech for one of its biggest properties? KW: Digital Cinema technology supports high frame rates with minimal and incremental changes to the technology. I do not believe it is a gamble – Warner is deeply involved with the standards bodies, which are addressing the issues and preparing for high frame rates to become a norm moving forward. Several of the existing installations can support The Hobbit at 48fps. Further, there will be a 24fps version to ensure wide distribution. But the time is right for high frame rates, primarily due to the advancement of technology. Back when everything was shot on film, the cost to film with high frame rates was a big issue. Today, with the advancement of digital technology, that cost barrier no longer exists, so it makes sense that filmmakers will want to use a better technology that enables the viewer to have a more real-world and visually striking experience. TR: Why do you think audiences reacted so much to The Hobbit's high frame rate footage - is it too real for movies? KW: It is my understanding that because they are focused on finishing the movie, the demo footage was not as finished or polished as it could have been, so the audience did not get as good a representation, so reactions may well change when audiences see the full-length feature in 48fps. Further, there is always a resistance to change. It was not so long ago that there was a lot of resistance to Digital Cinema in general – now everyone accepts it, enjoys it. I think this will hold true for high frame rates. Once audiences come to expect a look that is more true to the experience they have in the real world, that will become the standard for film making. In the end, most changes in film technology are driven by the film makers and their artistic vision for the film. If the high- caliber film makers want to depict a certain look – whether that be 3D, high frame rates, color film – eventually audiences will start to expect that look as the norm and it's the job of cinemas to enable the audiences to see the film in an optimal capacity. TR: Will higher frame rates draw people into cinemas like 3D - what does it mean for home cinemas? KW: I am not sure – it's always hard to predict what will draw people to cinemas, but home cinemas are already mostly equipped to play these higher frame rates. Televisions, for example, already support 60 frames per second. The only current issue with home cinemas is the ability to play high frame rates on source devices like Blu-ray or through the cable box, but that will likely be fixed by next year, enabling all home cinemas to play with the higher frame rates used by Jackson and Cameron and others who follow suit. TR: How easy is it to convert traditional cinemas to high frame rates? Is it the case that it is just a firmware upgrade for digital cinemas? KW: In some cases, yes. Right now, most cinemas have moved or are moving to digital systems, and about a third of digital systems are 3D capable, which means they are able to show higher frame rates. In the older systems, a hardware upgrade will be required, which could cost as much as $75,000 (£48,000) per screen to upgrade the projector, media block and any other essentials. But any theater transitioning to digital at this point will automatically get the ability to play higher frame rates because manufacturers are building that technology into all the new digital units. TR: Is 48fps a rival to 4K - do they both point to what the future of home cinema will look like? KW: I would imagine they will eventually converge and consumers will get 4K at high frame rates. Though one is temporal and one is spatial, they both get better the higher you go, so it makes sense that the industry moves in the direction of merging the technologies. Right now, it's all a matter of economics that will determine when consumers see this as a reality. The Hobbit will be released 14 December, courtesy of Warner Bros.

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My son, now 13, is dyslexic. I knew it when he was quite young. He'd do incredible things like write everything backwards, even the letters, from right to left — as if to be read in a mirror. But it became obvious to everyone else, including himself, in second grade that he made a different sense of the world. (For those who care, dyslexia is incredibly interesting and is not just a "dys"; it's a nonlinear mode of making sense, of seeing the world, and hence has incredible advantages — it's a pro- or metalexia or some such prefix.) His class was learning how to read. And, suddenly, he went from being a socially comfortable, charming, happy, bright little boy to being utterly confused and alone and, worse, filled with a deep distrust, even loathing, of himself. He had no idea what the other kids were doing, what they were seeing, how they were behaving with these books. The look on his face, which lasted months, devastates me to this day. This: The world giving way around you. The structures and tethers fraying, collapsing, breaking. And there you are, presumably part of it all — but an all that doesn't want you, where you don't fit, where you don't belong. But you're still there. What do you do? Well, he does what most people do: he defers, deflects, lashes out defensively: "I know how to read! I just don't want to!" Which isn't untrue per se; he can read, it's just a huge drag for him — it's a lot of work to put all those letters in the proper order word after word, sentence after sentence, page after page. But it's the tone that betrays him, belies his claim. The anger, the distress: it's aggressive. When I approach him softly with "Everyone feels weird about some things" or "Imagine if film were the dominant language — everyone else would be dyslexic!" But this only makes him bristle more, become more defensive, more aggressive. He is afraid to be left standing there as the world gives way and he doesn't know what to do. He can't just say to me, "Dad, this is scary and weird and makes me feel bad even though part of me knows it's irrelevant." Which is to say, he is afraid to be vulnerable. We experience this with drivers — not to mention bosses, coworkers, parents, friends, lovers — all the time. Someone does something dangerous and stupid — runs a red light, turns into a lane without looking — you honk in terror and what does that driver do? He flips you the bird! This is not just a question of culpability — although it's that, too. But I'm not talking about ethics; I'm talking about a human posture of standing in the world, with others, when it feels like the world won't have you. Part of that driver is scared — for his life, for his humiliation, for leaving the social contract so blatantly and being seen. But rather than risk exposure, rather than risk fear and the horror of operating outside the social contract, he lashes out. As a culture, we defer to violence over vulnerability. I, for one, fear vulnerability. This comes to light in romance more than anywhere else. A woman leaves me for another man and my first reaction is: Fuck you! Good! I'm happy! I'll get a better girlfriend! A better one! You did me a favor! That initial reaction is like a lion found sleeping belly up who, upon waking, growls menacingly at the shapes in the dark. It's to put up structures of defense and strength rather than just slumping and quivering and abandoning oneself to the world. I'm in control here! I'm the winner! my petty soul declares. But I'm no lion about to be killed by a hunter or hyena. So why wouldn't I, why couldn't I, just say to the woman who's left me, "Oh, no, I feel terrible and sad and unloved"? Why not just be exposed? The will to be in control, to be the winner, is strong. We love winners — even if we root for the underdog. We still want the underdog to win! Nietzsche knew this all too well. It's a symptom of ressentiment. What is vulnerability? Well, let's begin with what vulnerability is not. To be vulnerable is not to be sad. When my sister was dying, I was sad. I cried everywhere, in front of anyone and everyone. I was flying back and forth between San Francisco and New York for six months and dealt with cabbies and stewardesses and barristas and waiters and, well, I wept to and in front of most of them. But I wasn't vulnerable. I was sad. I was located — socially and existentially. In a very real way, my sadness even had a power — a power to influence, to inspire (guilt, mostly, but also affection and kind words). In reality, my sadness in that instance made me socially strong — a winner. Vulnerability has no such structures. By definition, it is to be exposed. To be at risk. To not have a place within the discursive, existential, and material structures of society. To be vulnerable is to be naked before the elements, both visible and invisible. Sadness is not necessarily exposed; sadness has a sure place, a buttress of the social edifice. Vulnerability, however, is without buttress. It is to stand within the social without structures of support. In fact, vulnerability need not be sad at all. It is to be exposed, bared. It is to be open to assault, physical and/or existential. But to be vulnerable is not just to be open. I've been open to all kinds of things from a position of great power and control: Bring it on, says master me. Openness is a necessary but not sufficient condition of vulnerability. To be vulnerable is to be open but, to paraphrase Nietzsche, not to be equal to the events. To be vulnerable is to not have a ready remedy — claws or witticisms — to handle the events, to be incapable of parrying or possessing them. The event tears you asunder. Recently, someone I've known for 15 years — but, for the sake of context, is considerably younger than I am — asked me if I've ever ached for a lover. I was flabbergasted by this question. My only reply was, Of course. I don't blame her for asking me. I was flabbergasted because I realized that I use my social resources to cultivate the stance of a winner — someone so detached and cool (well, in the jewish sense) that she actually believed that I've never been gutted, never been so at the mercy of someone else's mere glance, that I've been a stammering, desperate mess. Which of course I have. Of course I've felt useless, at the mercy of the world without tools or shelter. Of course I've felt helpless, exposed, desperate, evacuated. Oh, but what I've missed in trying to be so detached! I now see that vulnerability is the only way to joy, the only way to affirm this life here and now. Because vulnerability is not just to be open, not just to be exposed: it is to sit before the world without ego, without position, and still be part of the world! To be vulnerable is the ultimate strength — perhaps the only strength — in that it needs no defense, needs no place, needs no ground other than its own quivering. To stand there quaking and mute is still to be alive, still be part of the world, still to be the world happening. There is nowhere else to go. And so to stand there utterly naked, without ego or language, without the trappings of strength, is to be all powerful. And yet I see the fear of vulnerability everywhere. I see it in my exchanges with women — her refusal to stand there exposed and weak, choosing to lie and cry and yell and posture instead. I see it in my refusal to lose — to lose ego, to lose face, to lose words, to lose control, to lose my grounding. And, worst of all, I see it in my son, in his desperate clinging to the language of winner as the words and world refuse to align. If only he would let go. If only I could help him let go. Vision really is a strange sense. (Sense! I love that we use the same word for the neutrality of perception as we use for the processing of data. There's a dissertation there — to paraphrase Merleau-Ponty paraphrasing Malraux, all perception is already stylized.) Often, we see vision as somehow removed from the fray of it all. After all, seeing seemingly happens at a remove: we are just seeing it, as if that somehow absents us from the event — as if seeing something is not an intimate, sensual experience. But everyone from Heisenberg to Merleau-Ponty to Bracha Ettinger — for that matter, anyone who's ever been moved looking at a person or mountain or work of art —knows otherwise. Merleau-Ponty says to see something is to palpate it. I love that: to see is a form of touching. Touching we know is sensual; it is so explicit. Why? Because we can see the two things touching! It's a matter of proximity. But when we see something, there doesn't seem to be any touching at all. I'm here; you're there. You could be hundreds of feet away (a funny thing about aging: these days, if I'm to see you at all, that distance shrinks to the point where we might as well be touching). But, for Merleau-Ponty, seeing is touching! It erases distance. Or, better, overcomes it, eyes reaching with their extended grasp to take in the sun and moon and horizon and couple screwing in their window across the street. And, of course, vice-versa: the sun and moon and horizon and couple screwing in their window across the street reach to us, come to us, entwine with us. Merleau-Ponty refers to this as the chiasmus in which seer and seen intertwine. To see, then, is never a neutral act. There is no seeing that is not implicated, not involved, not constituent and constitutive of the event. To see is to touch another thing, is to entwine with another thing. And yet it is not that the two things — at least two, probably more; well, at least three or what Burroughs and Gysin call the Third Mind, the mind that exists between the two — anyway, it is not that the two things unify and become one. They inflect each other, nudge each other, caress each other, repel each other. It is a creative event in which multiple bodies co-create each other and the world. This is not a radical claim. We all know it — whether it's in the form of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (or, perhaps, the observer affect) or pornography or just being aroused by seeing someone or something. We see and we affect and are affected in ways that are quite similar to touching and being touched. The play of passive and active is always confused in all perception. After all, when you touch my face, is my face touching you? Sure, there are important legal differences. But ontologically speaking, when you touch my face, my face is not just the object that is touched; it, too, touches. With vision, this ambiguity is amplified. Am I seeing the cup? Where is my agency in this seeing? Is it something I do? Well, no, not really. The cup seems to just insinuate itself into my eyes, my body, my thinking, my being. To say "we see the world" suggests that seeing is active when, in fact, all there is is seeing, a co-poietic event in which all parties mingle. This is not to say that there is no differentiation of power or intensity within the perceptive act. We draw clear boundaries — that may get blurred now and again — between active and passive touching. This is essential to our, or any, civility. But we know it in seeing, as well. We all know — I would think women in particular are well aware — that there is an aggressive mode of seeing, a seeing that seeks to dominate the seen, subjugate the seen, molest the seen. This mode of what we might call the phallic gaze is not restricted to men looking at women (although that is no doubt its most common and egregious expression). We know it in the workplace from bosses who look without seeing, whose gaze dismisses us before we've even locked eyes. And we all know the supreme oddity, discomfort, power, and eroticism that comes from making eye contact. Holy moly, it's an odd experience. Making sustained eye contact with a stranger — really, with everyone but with people we know, we don't usually see them as much as we act blindly through habit — but making eyes with a stranger initiates a downright delirious feedback loop that threatens and teases and entices and ravels and unravels our identities. As I tried arguing, we don't see per se. There is no clear agency; seeing is always already a co-seeing with the seen. I don't see my own eye. Where my eye is, you are — or this screen, these scraps of paper, my cocktail glass. My eye is a no-place that is always already filled with the world (like a womb, perhaps —pace Ettinger). Seeing will always already have taken me outside myself, had me constituted by other things that are not in fact other things at all precisely because they constitute me and my eye — and my seeing, not to mention my very comportment in this world. Seeing is fundamentally in-between and turns all being into an in-between place of mutual becoming. So when I make eye contact with a stranger — it's great that we call it eye contact — a strange event is initiated in which two non-I's are co-creating each other in an endless ever morphing loop. All identity is suspended in the swirling ether. This is what makes eye contact so dangerous, so alluring, so essential: it initiates an explicit, palpable event of co-mingling. It's often terrifying when it happens on the train or the street — and nearly impossible to sustain. What are the terms of exchange with a stranger as you co-mingle, both of you swept beyond your meta-narrative of clothes and class, swept into a smear of a field, this slurring of identities? What do you express as you heed the expressions? Are you thrown back on yourself, to your known self, to a phallic come hither gaze? Do you enter that place of unspeakable vulnerability in which you don't know what you want or who you are? Eye contact is a volatile, indeterminate space. What happens when you make eye contact with an animal? In Jaws, we hear of the dead black eyes of the shark. Why does it fill us with such fear and loathing? Because that blackness, that utterly alien mode, enters us, commingles with us. Dogs have almost human eyes. We see, we experience, we touch their pathos. And yet they are distinctly not human. Making eyes with a dog is truly delirious. In some sense, it feels safer than with a human stranger as you have permission to look away from a dog's eyes. There is no judgment or shame implicit in our social contract with animals (although many claim there should be). On the other hand, making eyes with a dog can be the most challenging, a gaze that so thoroughly unravels our all-too-human selves and egos, our narratives of identity. Of course, it's easy to lay a narrative over that canine gaze. It's easy to make it human. In a great episode of the HBO series, "High Maintenance," we see a dog seeing life and, in particular, seeing one woman. We see his love of her and we imagine it much as we might imagine our own love. But this dog's love is different and the episode does a nice job at the end of making this clear — there is a limit to a dog's sentimentality. Or, rather, a limit term between human and canine sentimentality. They are not the same. And yet, for those moments when we lock eyes, we do partake of each other in a way that is palpably powerful and transformative. We partake of the flux of all becoming and it's beautiful. Oh, sport casters love to talk about momentum! This or that team now has the momentum, they declare. They even talk about a good loss — a team rebounds at the end of a losing effort (which is interesting. Are all losses the same? Are all foul balls the same? Quantitatively, yes; qualitatively, no. The best of sports live in the latter). The direction of momentum is discussed with much seriousness. And I find this beautiful. How often do we witness public discussions of things as esoteric as momentum? What is momentum? From one perspective, it makes no sense. Take baseball's San Francisco Giants this past year. The first half of the season, they were the best team in baseball; the second half of the season, they were the second worst team in baseball. This shows that it's not enough to point to talent or a lack thereof. These were the same players playing very differently. And, in baseball, there's the team and then there's the players. That may sound obvious but in, say, football, the quarterback is really at the mercy of his linemen who protect him and the receivers who have to get open to catch the ball. Football is an intricate engine. In baseball, each at bat is individual: it's just the pitcher and the hitter. It shouldn't matter much who else is hitting (yes, it matters but I don't want to get too pedantic; this is not a discussion of baseball). So how do we explain how it comes to be that an entire team, more or less, suddenly sucks — or, for that matter, is suddenly great? Well, perhaps it's the wrong question. To even ask it is to assume that we are in fact individuals; that we are isolated and can control, of our own volition solely, how we go in the world (I'm talking ontology here, not ethics; the relationship between the two deserves more time and space). But that's a lot to assume. And after seeing a team do what the Giants did this year, it's hard to avoid the empirical evidence — namely, that we go together. How could it be otherwise? Think about planets for a second. We accept without thinking that they act together — they orbit each other, they push and pull each other, they heat each other up, cool each other down; they speed up and slow down together. The very way a thing goes in the world is enmeshed in the ways of other things. And that's only focusing on the material aspects of bodies. Once we take into consideration the invisible world of affect and ideas and emotion, things get even more elaborately entwined with each other. Consider how a mood of your friend, lover, even a stranger can overtake you. You were feeling one way and, suddenly, you feel melancholy, depressed, happy, excited, anxious. Mood — or, better, affect — exceeds us and entwines us. It is a series of flows, like sound or gravity perhaps, which run through us, as us, in us, with us. We partake of that mood together. And that mood is not an adornment of who we are; there is not first us and then our moods. No, moods and affect — I am using the two more or less interchangeably even though they are not the same — are constitutive of our very being, our becoming. Mood is not ornament or adornment; mood is constitutional. After all, how can there be a body without mood? There is always already mood; we are all made of skin and bone and liver and ideas and ideology and blood and, yes, mood. Perhaps our blood is our "own" (this is debatable). But our moods are not. Moods are interpersonal; they run through the world, live in ideas, in bodies, in space; they are a force and a presence that make us and exceed us in the same gesture, forging an identity that is always an in-between, a not-I. This I that mood makes is an interpersonal I. It happens between me and the world, me and you, making a me that is never finally a me. We all participate in this mood without becoming one; we become variations of these moods that run through us. I am currently reading Bracha Ettinger's The Matrixial Borderspace — a sometimes difficult (due to psychoanalytic jargon) but exquisite, beautiful book (I thank the charming, brilliant Kat Mandeville for recommending it). In it, Ettinger proffers a shift from the phallus-castration complex to the womb (or matrixial)-borderline complex. That is, where Freud and Lacan construct desire as a lack that the phallus always seeks to fill — fucking the empty space, as it were — Ettinger gives us the womb, the matrix, as a different economy and distribution of presence, absence, identity, and desire. The womb is an empty place that is not lacking but is a place where identities — mother and child — are always blurred: a borderline place. A place of co-creation. Ettinger posits a matrixial gaze as distinct from a phallic gaze. We all know that phallaic gaze: it's the gaze that owns with its look, that consumes, that fills, that possesses, that fucks. It's the gaze of domination as a way to compensate (for a castration anxiety). It's creepy. Ah, but the matrixial gaze is another thing entirely. It's a looking in which the eye, like the womb, is a no-place that is always already filled with other things. After all, I can't see my own eye. The eye is akin to the womb in that way; it is a borderline place of what she calls the co-emerging I. I don't see as much as there is seeing, a seeing that is always and necessarily an in-between, creating "non-I prior to the I versus others" (as she writes). The Taoists, and Douglas Harding, understand this: in place of our heads, there is the world. Where our heads should be, there's the world. But this is not to say that we become one with the world, that we are unified. It is that the world is here with me, as me, in me. I am a differentiated flow of the world's becoming that happens with the world, creating a non-I. The very space of seeing is a space of interpersonal becoming. The very possibility of seeing, of perceiving in general, always already turns me inside out, in-between, an I that is a site of co-creation. It's not that I see the world and now I'm me. It's that I am always seeing the world and this very act of seeing makes me a non-I, a process of co-creation. So back to the Giants and momentum. Of course teams become together. Of course their identities are co-mingled, co-created. How could it be otherwise? Now, momentum is different than co-creation. It is a mode of co-creation, a physics of co-creation. After all, the scopic or percpetive field is not uniform. It has bends, turns, folds, shapes, speeds, intensities. As we are all co-making ourselves, we are carried along the trajectory of these fields that propel us this way or that. If we understand identity as an always-already co-emergent process, and the invisible world as shaped and tempered, then of course sports teams experience momentum. From one perspective, there's not a lot of action in Naama Kates' new film, Sorceress (she wrote, directed, and stars in it). Nina, an American young woman, is living with her aunt and uncle in Russia; we learn she's reckoning a family trauma — her mother's suicide. She works in a library where there seem to be no patrons except one young woman who becomes her lover. They talk of some things (in some very sweet scenes; what a treat to see two smart, engaged women just talking and, perhaps, falling in love!). Nina gives a concert — but that's the ending and you'll have to wait for that. And yet that is the point. For it is here in the everyday drab, in the human hum of it all, that other forces are always lurking, making their presence felt. Our history, our memories, the stars, the cosmos: they all come to bear upon us — if we're receptive — threatening to undo our very identities, at once a liberation and a horror. What could be more dramatic? This drama is played out in the very fabric of the film. There are very few locations — a claustrophobic apartment, like something out of Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love; a library with no patrons and one co-worker who loves Harry Potter; a friend-turned-lover's apartment; some empty, snow draped streets. In all the locales, there is a persistently muted tone, all these very quiet pinks, browns, and greys, which make the film almost seem black and white. But then, as if from nowhere, the scene will suddenly shift to the night sky — a locale of a fundamentally different sort. Only it's not darkness we see. No, it's a night sky teeming with color, the screen suddenly ablaze with it — greens and blues and purples and millions of stars, some shooting. These shots are ecstatic, wondrous, abundant (every time these scenes happened, my heart started pounding). And we come to see the muted hues not as an absence of color but as a presence, the cosmic making itself felt in the everyday, the spectacular spectral vitality of life bleeding into a drab human world obsessed with Harry Potter. And we see it in Kates' face. She has one of those great cinematic faces, somehow able to hold so many different feelings at once, like a millennial Gena Rowlands (I see Asia Argento, too, in Kates' face). And we are captivated (see her star in another great film, The 10 Commandments of Chloe, which I wrote about here). Throughout the film, the camera lingers on her face as she teeters between and among melancholy, introspection, desire, ecstasy, doubt, empowerment. These are what the philosopher Gilles Deleuze calls affect shots. The hero close-ups of today's movie stars are not affective at all. They're too busy conveying the plot: we see Leo feeling happy or sad or determined. With Kates, we get something else entirely: we get the great complexity of life itself played across her face. Her face is cinema — multiple, engaging, exquisite, and always moving. It doesn't explain the plot to us; it confronts us with the world happening. If the color of the film plays out the presence of the past and the cosmos on the present, her face does the same thing: we see it move between this world and that, between the human and the cosmic — and occupy every space in between. It's extraordinary to witness. Meanwhile, we hear her voiceover. But like Godard before her, the voiceover doesn't explain — not the plot or what she's feeling. If voiceover is a short cut directors use to say rather than show, Kates uses it to add layers of complexity. Rather than internal monologue, we hear her quote different passages from a book she's reading by the 16th century friar, poet, philosopher, mathematician, astrologer Giordano Bruno who, as the voiceover tells us, "was a master. A mystic...They killed him for speaking the truth, Momma says." Throughout the movie, Nina has the TV on. We never see the TV but we hear it. The manufactured, controlled sound of the TV — itself a kind of specter — grounds her in this world, shuts down the ghosts of the past and the seething of the stars. But then comes the astounding end of the film in which Nina gives a concert. And, as with the shots of the night sky, the screen suddenly goes rich with colors, with reds, with visual intensity. It's a kind of possession from somewhere else as we hear the words she sings: “What are you afraid of losing? Just myself." If the sound of TV is a false possession — all manufactured dreams, dreams without delirium, the maudlin crap of capitalism — her music delivers the delirium of the infinite. And so we witness Nina losing herself in the starry haunting beauty of it all — leaving her lover who is human-all-too-human with nothing left to do but look on with concern and horror, assuming Nina is insane. "It's important to learn all these infinite things," she tells us as at one point as the film cuts to her face, at once doubled and obscured, color haunting the frame. This is one of those rare films that actually respects its audience. Perhaps Nina is insane. Or perhaps she really is frolicking with the stars. What's the difference? Sorceress never spoon feeds us the plot; characters never feel just one thing. Sorceress performs its subject matter as the film itself plays in this space between the human and the inhuman, between past and present, between the drab and the ecstatic. It's never just one or the other; it's always both/and. This is not a film that explains this movement. As the title declares, this film is itself sorceress, summoning the glorious, delirious, and infinite powers of a world that's always present whether we realize it or not. And isn't that the promise of cinema? I mailed something today. I paid with the cash. The lady at the post office was insistent on handing me a receipt that had a tracking number on it and a QR code — I could go to my computer and type in the tracking number or take a picture of the QR code with my phone. Nominally, this is so I can track my package. But that's of course not what it is. It's a tracking number, yes, but not for my package: it's a tracking number for, and of, me. Mail and cash: these have been cornerstones of freedom from a certain gaze thanks to their anonymity. They allow us to exchange, organize, and communicate without the prying eyes of government or corporations. Obviously, the move to eliminate cash form the world serves a two-fold ends: corporations get a way to make money on you spending money — which is insane. And the government gets to track every penny spent, who's buying what from whom. Now it's the mail — which is, of course, being phased out, all in the name of efficiency. We prefer UPS and FedEx and Amazon drop shipping because they're more efficient than the public postal system. So we pay more than we used to in order to have ourselves tracked —as well as our stuff and who's receiving it from us. The corporations make money where they couldn't before as the post office was public. And the government gets to track the movement of every thing in this country: who's sending what to whom, everywhere and always. There's no way to send something without people, whose interests are not mine, knowing about it. And not only do they not share my interests, they have an interest in me in a way I don't want people to have an interest in me: they want to track everything I do so they can a) figure out how to sell me more stuff, to make more money on my transactions; and b) to ensure I'm not organizing a revolt against the State. These are not healthy relationships! Tracking numbers, sold to us as a convenience: it's hilarious — what Burroughs and PK Dick and Debord saw and knew so long ago, I just realized in its sublime clarity. I feel like a moron. How can people organize modes of being that counter, or bypass, corporate and government interests? If every channel is monitored; if goods can't be exchanged; if all communication is tracked, then everything is always already controlled. Oy vey ist mir! We discuss vulnerability, parenting, the awful equation of parenting with worry, dyslexia, creating new narratives of the self, grief, Lei... It's a luxury to read great books, films, works of art. You get to jump in, kick around, then stand back and think while the thing s... Arkady Plotnitsky who taught me Derrida in Philadelphia in 1989. When I was in college, I took a class on Derrida taught by the impecca... A thing is one thing that is many things. It is an assemblage point — a gathering together of diverse elements in a particular way. A rock ... The set up is familiar: good girls flirt with bad, get in over their heads, learn a lesson — with some boobs and teen exploitation along ... "Make no mistake. It's not revenge he's after. It's a reckoning." In Tombstone , Wyatt Earp and his brother...

Celebrate the superb, scary cinema that gave birth to film's most popular genre. In 19th century Russia, a seminary student is forced to spend three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. Director Eli Roth brings together the masters for an in-depth look at horror's roots. In this classic chiller, stranded travelers stumble upon a strange old house, and find themselves at the mercy of a highly eccentric family. An escaped killer returns home in John Carpenter's classic. A group of friends are terrorised by a chainsaw wielding madman and his depraved family in this legendary horror. This documentary filmed on the set of DAWN OF THE DEAD profiles the great George Romero. This horror classic about a killer stalking sorority girls on Xmas helped spawn the slasher genre. Herschell Gordon Lewis' shocking cult classic is considered the first gore movie. George Romero's original zombie classic introduced viewers to a new type of terror.

Roos, never really tries to explain what the creatures are, or what really happened to the world as we knew it... which i feel is a plus. Nothing destroys an atmosphere and tone as well as the quick fix tacked onto the end of a movie, and god knows that way to many indie movies try to patch up questions that never really need to be fixed. This movie is primarily about the people, and the journey they take. The plague, demonic creatures and zombie figurines are all secondary. Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Sky Has Fallen Directed by: Doug Roos Horror, Drama, 72min Independent zombie/apocalypse movies are becoming so stereotype that it’s a crime. There’s rarely anything new added to the formula that’s been running on autopilot since 1968. Nevertheless, I love the zombie genre, and can’t tear myself away form watching them. Watching them to find those rare gems that actually bring a new novelty with them to the scenario… Ok, so The Sky Has Fallen might not really be a zombie film, but it does use themes from the genre, and the dead have risen from their graves - even if it is part of a larger scheme of sinister experiments conducted by a strange demonic entity. Perhaps this is where the future of zombie film lies, in crossbreeding it with other niches. Part post apocalypse, part survival horror and part zombie film - just like Doug Roos’ The Sky Has Fallen. An airborne virus is wiping out mankind. Mysterious black figures are kidnapping the recently dead, experimenting on them and resurrecting them as their undead puppets. The few survivors left, have been fighting the battle for their existence what seems to be an undefeatable foe. One persistent warrior, Lance [Carey MacLaren] is determined to seek and destroy the leader of the shadow beings as to stop the pestilence that’s taking down mankind in rapid succession. Along the path of his quest he encounters Rachel [Laurel Kemper], who also has an agenda of her own… but the encounter also awakens questions of morale, life, death and human nature. The Sky Has Fallen is a good film, a really good film As far as independent horror films go, I’d be an idiot not to say that Doug Roos is onto something here. This guy obviously knows how to tell a story, bring characters to life and captivate an audience. The Sky Has Fallen has a lot of great fight scenes, some good horror moments, but perhaps most importantly it has heart, soul and intelligence. There’s a natural interest evoked when certain information, or backstory, is kept from the audience. Both Lance and Rachel are obviously holding back on telling what drives them towards their goal. Roos boldly explores their backstories through intimate dialogue and non-linear crosscutting in-between fight scenes. This is also where a vague, but existing love story sub-plot evolves. Hardly surprising when two people in an extreme situation, are drawn closer to each other as they reveal their darkest secrets, most inner thoughts and reasons for taking up the quest. It’s a cool way to take a story like this and in many ways much more authentic than a lot of other pieces where women just fall head over heals for any bloke who turns up. I can completely relate to these two finding feelings for each other. There’s a matter of trust between the two. They strive towards the same goal – terminate the white spectre – and keep each other alive. There’s an intriguing scene where Lance decides to take Rachel on as his companion, which comes through a dilemma between taking her life and saving her from the dark road ahead, or sparing her and at the risk of her being tortured by the black shadows. This brings a creative dimension to the character that makes him stand out amongst other “heroic characters”. I was definitely a wtf moment for me, and the outcome made Lance grow in my eyes, and even more so as his backstory is revealed bit by bit. Our old friend guilt makes a great appearance when Lance finally reveals the reason for him taking on his monumental quest. I really tip my hat to the way Roos moves a classic revenge motivation to the side, to reveal a guilt motivator behind it. The guilt of letting a family member down is much more effective than that of a random person he should have rescued. This is a textbook example of how guilt can be used, and Roos uses it in all the right ways. I really get a kick out of finding metaphors in genre films. When it comes to The Sky Has Fallen, I’d like to point your attention to the scenes with the Priest that Rachel and Lance find along their way… Being that we all have our roots in Christian society, the scene is a great way to tell the audience, in a sublime way, that we’re fucked. Not even God can save us, and the evil will prevail! Keep an eye open when you watch zombie and post apocalypse releated movies... the clever one's usually have this kind of metaphor. Editing if ferocious, and really packs a punch, Roos definitely has a feeling for getting through a lot of material and transforming it to the most effective substance. Backstory is told in dialogue, but also violently spliced into the other wise calm flow of the dialogue scenes. It creates unease as these violent bursts disrupt the sobriety of the tales they are trying to tell. It works brilliantly. I would most likely have gone over the editing of the dialogue scenes once more and create a better flow there – not due to pacing, but because the somewhat restrained delivery of dialogue and pretty straight cuts make those moments feel sagging at times. But these moments are luckily contrasted by the highly efficient editing in between, such as action and fight scenes. It should be pointed out that there is a terrific amount of dialogue in The Sky Has Fallen and Roos deserves every inch of respect you can give him for the amount of dialogue. It’s certainly no small feat to make a movie that mainly relies on it’s dialogue scenes, and at the end of the day, for a low budget feature with what I presume is amateur actors and actresses how they deliver there lines is a small issue. Sometimes bad luck turns into good luck and works to one’s advantage. Roos had covered wide shot footage but later felt that they weren’t quite working out when he got to post. So he removed them from the edit. Which was kind of unfortunate, as the film never really establishes locations, space or setting. But at the same time it works great for the movie as it forces most shots into being half shots, close ups and extreme close ups that creates an immense intimate feeling with the material. With the subplots that play though the film, this intimacy is exactly what the movie needs and what brings that all so important heart to the movie. The effect is almost as if becoming a third party at the camp fires where Lance and Rachel share their stories, fight the creatures and slowly are drawn to each other. The score is absolutely beautiful. For real, I see way to many flicks with synthesizer-orchestrated scores, or even worse goddamned keyboard drones. But the music to The Sky Has Fallen, composed by James Sizemore is magnificent and really adds a layer to this fascinating low budget gem which definitely leaves an impression on it’s audience. I love the irony that Hollywood can’t get shit to fly, despite huge budgets, extensive re-writes, re-shoots and tossing all the “hot names” into the mix. Then comes a young man with a vision, no budget, amateur actors, shots, directs, writes and edits his own movie and it resonates louder than most the shite the studios “think the kids want”. Doug Roos has created an original, impressive, one of a kind flick that definitely promises a lot for future projects to come. Sex is part of genre cinema. It’s part of the formula, life and death in that crazy mix. Tits’ and Ass and violent deaths sell tickets. ... It’s a sad, sad day indeed. There’s been to many obits' written this past year as some very important people have passed on during thes... Viskningar och Rop (Cries and Whispers) Dir: Ingmar Bergman 1972, 91min In just a few weeks it will be what would have been Ing... I find myself continually confronting and struggling with what I call the HighBrow/LowBrow Paradox. There’s really nothing much to que...

Living in todays social media obsessed and tabloid fuelled society, often we forget being a star used to mean more than having a rugged beard and blue eyes (Bradley Cooper) or Magic Mike abs (Channing Tatum). Unfortunately, we live in a modern climate where divisive tactics keep underdogs down as most studios hail the white movie star. We finally see a rise in black driven stories and characters but is it enough to truly change how the major studios cast roles? Movies with diverse casts (Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther, Get Out, and Us etc.) are selling tickets to movies globally, but there is still a lack of true diversity within how the screening system works. We will be taking time exploring some stars of yesteryear that made a splash being different in a time when being different wasn’t as widely accepted. A prime example of this is the late, great, Omar Sharif!!! I want to live every moment totally intensely. Here’s the back story on Omar Sharif, who went from a supporting character and evolved into being a icon in his own right. Born Michel Dimitri Chalhoub in 1932, this Egyptian actor of Lebanese origin began his career in his native country in the 1950s appearing in both English and American productions over the course of his career, landing large parts in such pictures as Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Funny Girl (1968). His break through to the mainstream was 1962. David Lean casting a lesser known and foreign actor in such a big budget film as Lawrence of Arabia was considered a risky move as the supporting role was ‘one of the most demanding supporting roles in Hollywood’. This came off as a ‘authentic move’ for the studio, seeing how his ambiguous ethnicity allowed him to lean into playing many backgrounds it couldn’t be better casting. Sharif spoke English, French, Italian, Greek, Spanish and even Arabic. Admitting this himself, Sharif noted he could ‘play the role of a foreigner without anyone knowing exactly where I came from’. Landing such a high profile supporting role came with it’s own hangups. Omar had to sign a seven-film contract with Columbia. Not only did this worked out in Sharifs favour as he was received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination; he also shared a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year proving he was a box office hit and critical sensation, as well as being a part of one of cinema’s most iconic entrances of a character. While filming the wildly culturally inappropriate Genghis Khan, Sharif heard about a upcoming project of Doctor Zhivago, an adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s 1957 novel, which was a landmark in his career. Omar was a fan of the novel and pitched himself for one of the supporting roles, but in a strange twist of fate was casted as the lead, Yuri Zhivago, a poet and physician. Like his adopted surname, meaning ‘noble’, it had been remarked that Sharif’s eyes reflected reality, which then became the ‘mirror of reality we ourselves see’. Undeniably handsome with his dark features he had qualities of the ideal leading man, but also a certain exotic quality which made him sought after for a string of roles throughout his rise to stardom and icon status. Our readers may know we have a love for a rebel; his looks alone made him suited to pull off an array of high end ornate costumes but in the end always sustained a dark bad-boy image. It is even alleged that he smoked 100 cigarettes a day! I don’t know what sex appeal is. Another stand out role for Sharif was his portrayal of Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl, along side Barbara Streisand in her first film role. But in true bad boy style, this decision to take part in this production angered the Egyptian Government as Streisand was Jewish . The country condemned the film. It also was ‘immediately banned’ in numerous Arab nations. Streisand herself joked “You think Cairo was upset? You should’ve seen the letter I got from my Aunt Rose”. Maybe the heightened social tensions added to the chemistry between the two actors as they became romantically involved during filming. Sharif admitted later that he did not find Streisand attractive at first, but her appeal soon overwhelmed him: “About a week from the moment I met her”, he recalled, “I was madly in love with her. I thought she was the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen in my life…I found her physically beautiful, and I started lusting after this woman.”. As the years went on Sharif staked his claim in an otherwise white washed leading man landscape of the industry. As time would go on, his career veered into television in the 1970s, and even had his own clothing line!!! This icon is definitely worth the mentioning on The Eye of Faith, as he was a pioneer in the industry at a time when segregation and racial discrimination was very real, and just having dark features alone could alienate you amongst your peers and society. Plus, like we said, we always have a soft spot for the rebel who marches to the beat of his own drum! Using the power of diversity for good, and breaking the mould in an otherwise unbreakable industry, we thank you Omar Sharif. Until next time,

WHAT: 2019 Alexander Valley Film Festival. The ALEXANDER VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL (AVFF) is the culmination of all of our year-round programs and is celebrated annually the third weekend in October. Lauded as the hottest emerging regional film festival in the North Bay, nearly 2,000 tickets are sold for the unique mix of independent cinema with a Hollywood flare. The Festival features domestic and international narrative features, documentaries, short films, special programs, winners from the Student Film Competition, community events and screenings, a thrilling Opening Night Celebration, and more! WHY: This event is dedicated to bringing films and experiences to Northern Sonoma County to which the community would otherwise not have access. WHEN: October 17-20, 2019 (Thursday-Sunday) WHERE: Anchors between The Clover Theater in Cloverdale and Raven Film Center in Healdsburg plus other venues throughout Northern Sonoma County. PUBLIC CONTACT: For more information about this event, please call 707.893.7150. For more information about the Alexander Valley Film Society, visit www.avfilmsociety.org or call 707.893.7150.

Plans to open a boutique cinema in Oakham called Rutland Kino suffer a setback as co-ordinator Genevieve Margrett is forced to look for new premises A woman's ambition to open a boutique cinema in Oakham has suffered a setback as she has nowhere to build it. Genevieve Margrett has spent the past year attracting £1.1 million in pledges to fund the business venture. She had been in talks with Oakham Baptist Church about buying its premises in High Street, but fears delays in drawing up Rutland's local plan has put that on hold. She is now seeking new premises in the town centre to get the plans back on track. Genevieve, a former Oakham School pupil, said: "I thought raising the money would be the biggest challenge but we were really surprised by the generosity and interest from local people. There's been a real groundswell of support. "We were feeling in a good place but then the St George's Barracks plan came on the scene. "The local plan is being revisited so all the land that had been earmarked for development is under question." Genevieve has started to look at new venues but is keen to hear from anyone who has suggestions of buildings or land. She hopes the cinema, named Rutland Kino, will have two screens, one with 86 seats and one with 47 seats, and a café. She said: "I grew up in Rutland and always wondered why it didn't have a cinema. I have seen the rise of boutique cinemas in London and they are fantastic. "Things like this help to regenerate town centres and I believe it will help make Oakham town centre special again. "We just need a building." Films are shown at Rutland County Museum but if the project goes ahead it will provide Oakham with its own stand alone cinema for the first time since the 1980s. Anyone with suggestions of a possible building or land to house the cinema can contact Genevieve via the website at www.rutlandkino.co.uk

Directed by: Ruggero Deodato The cannibal genre, an odd little bastard offspring in Italian film cinema that definitely left it’s mark and still today seems to be one of the most provocative of them all. It’s hard to believe that a string of movies made some thirty years ago still have the ability to provoke people in the way that the cannibal films did. Such a great little macabre niche that it's still packs a hard punch to the gut and Italian genre directors are finding there way back there once again... With their roots on the Mondo genre, and a pretty successful run of movies both predating and following the outstanding Cannibal Holocaust – among them Umberto Lenzi’s infamous ”banned in 37 countries” epic Cannibal Ferox, (Make Them Die Slowly) 1981 – but it’s only Cannibal Holocaust that tries to do something different within it’s own genre. It aims a critique towards the genre, the Mondo films, and even towards itself. Getting quickly into the plot, the film starts with a news report on documentary filmmaker Alan Yates [Carl Gabriel Yorke who at times reassembles a young Tom Cruise] gone missing in the jungle during the shoot of his new production “The Green Hell” A few moments later and anthropologist Harold Monroe [Robert Kerman – who later starred in Umberto Lenzi’s Magiati vivi! (Eaten Alive) 1980 Cannibal Ferox (Make Them Die Slowly) 1981] is assigned to find the team. Travelling deep into the jungle with a constant affirmation of how dangerous and threatening the place is – like witnessing the cruel ritualistic punishment for adultery - they make contact with the Yucamo tribe. Continuing the narrative device of laying out question marks the tribe chief in his native tongue tries to tell them what has happened in the partially destroyed village. After witnessing combat between the rival cannibal tribes The Swamp People (Shamatari) and the Tree people (Yanomamo) they intervene and make friends with the Yanomamo tribe, gradually becoming accepted by them and finally being given the lost film stock of the Yates expedition – after Monroe chomps down on human flesh. So far we fear what has happened to the members of the expedition and empathize with them because of the possible fate they met, there’s a natural curiosity that wants to find out if they are alive and what has happened, but that will all change pretty soon… Back in New York Monroe is thrown onto TV shows for interviews and used as part of the promotion ahead of the premier broadcast of the Yates documentary. He’s asked by the Pan American Broadcast Company to assist in the assembly and completion of the Yates material, and he agrees on the terms that he as an anthropology professor can review all the footage first. At first the footage shows the happy team going about normal life, preparing for their shoot and candidly joking with each other. Monroe and the editor laugh at the material and we still empathize for the filmmakers. But soon there’s a dark side to the expedition that starts to surface in the material. Moving at high speed and primarily filling in the narrative question marks the notorious animal carnage begins with Alan Yates shouting out directions on what to shoot with the cameras. We start to question the filmmakers, and loose some of the empathy we have had towards them. The scenes of depravity and dark cynicism of director Yates who stops at nothing to provoke illustrious footage for his production, becomes more and more shocking, and Monroe decides that this footage is so disturbing and unethical that it would be an inhuman to air it on television. But the executives know the sensationalistic value of the material the are sitting on and refuse to not air the documentary, so Monroe is left with no further option that to show them the two reels of footage that not even the editors dared show them. The magnum opus of atrocities where the cynical Alan Yates stops at nothing to provoke the most exclusive material he ever could even if it costs him the life of his team and friends… At this point the audience is rooting for the cannibals, we want those fiendish filmmakers punished – it’s the miracle of movie manipulation taking place. Reaching its climax the executives are left silent in shock and repulsion before ordering the destruction of all the footage. Harold Monroe leaves the broadcast offices posing the question “I wonder who the real cannibals are?” Coming off The Concorde Affair 1979 Deodato was approached by producers to make a movie in the style of his earlier flick Ultimo mondo cannibale (Last Cannibal World) 1977. Said and done, location scouting started, and equipped with an extremely potent script written once again by Gianfranco Clerici and Deodato, production on Cannibal Holocaust started in June 1979. The ”documentary style” footage of Allan Yates expedition was first to roll through the cameras, but after only few days of filming, the actor originally cast as the lead antagonist Yates quit the movie, which had the shoot come to a grinding halt as they all awaited re-casts and hoped to find a new leading man. Finally Carl Gabriel Yorke arrived on set, and armed with their 16mm cameras they roamed through the jungles of Leticia, Colombia near the Amazonas shooting that fascinating material of animal cruelty, arranged provocations, candid sexuality, rape, and all the shocking atrocities that make up that offensive material. But where many other movies in the Exploitation genre are made with a smile on their faces, the production of Cannibal Holocaust suffered from an extreme tense atmosphere as the cast and crew started to realise what they where getting themselves into. Authentic animal cruelty, frequent cast nudity, and the harrowing location added to the already tense shoot, and needless to say not to many of the cast and crew had much care for each other at the end of production – rather the opposite. And most fingers pointed straight at Ruggero Deodato, accusing him of being callous, heartless genuine bastard. If you have ever met Mr. Deodato you will know that this image is nowhere near the impression that this polite gent gives – well not off set at least. It’s quite possible that Deodato, fully aware that his movie would provoke not only cinema audiences, but also the makers of the movies that the film criticized, and the industry he was working in, and realised that he was in a very compromising situation. And the producers back in Italy where going wild as they watched rushes, screaming aloud for more, More, MORE! Never the less five weeks in the Colombian jungle and a week in New York and Rome later, the movie was in the can and if the anxious atmosphere on set was an issue, it was still nothing compared to what was to come. After premiering in Milan, Italy early 1980, Cannibal Holocaust only played for ten days before it was taken off the screen and into court. Charges where filed against as they believed the film was an authentic snuff piece, but after presenting proof that the actors, and the iconic impaled woman, where indeed alive and well, the case was dismissed. But due to the raw nature of the animal killings the movie was still a sensitive issue, and it remained banned in Italy for another four years. Needless to say the movie faced serious censorship problems outside of Italy too and ended up being banned in several countries or even worse released after some serious cut where made. One of the main reasons that Cannibal Holocaust caused such an outrage – apart from the apparent animal cruelty - is all due to the magic of filmmaking. The provocative and very realistic” documentary footage” causes a mind set that the stuff we are watching is real. As the quality and grain of the material we are seeing changes we believe that what is shown is actually real documentary footage, and is further enhanced as we see cinematographers and equipment in shot on several occasions. Also there’s an innovative use of dialogue that set’s up this little trick. Several times as we go to, and from the 16mm footage there’s technical dialogue presented, “I’ve added some archive music for effect” “This first segment is silent” “Remember this is a very rough cut, almost like watching rushes” “ There should be some sound coming in now…” etc. There are also audio flaws, damage and scratches to the film stock, which help to sell the fantastic illusion that the footage is real. There’s also a magnificent narrative going on in Cannibal Holocaust. Deodato has through the Professor Monroe scenes, planted several questions and referents that later will be answered and revealed as we start going through the documentary footage. Early on they find the body of the Yates expedition’s guide Miguel, and Chaco, Monroe’s guide say’s “I wonder what mistake he made to end up dead…” They find the carcass of a giant river turtle… this and other questions delicately planted, build a natural suspense and curiosity that draws the viewer in to the narrative. The ingenious use of a non-linear narrative is brilliant. Posing questions in the first half only to answer them in the later creates a constant forward motion throughout the movie that keeps it moving rapidly, and interesting. Added to that non-linear narrative there’s every now and again a line of dialogue or two to raise new questions and look ahead; “What happened here…?” “You think that was bad? Alan could do much worse!” “You haven’t even seen the stuff your editors didn’t dare show you!” Which drives the movie forth and suggests even worse material to come, creating a natural anticipation with the viewer. Cannibal Holocaust has some very effective dialogue, which contributes to the narrative, in a many ways adds to making the movie stand out amongst the other pieces in the niche. But it doesn’t stop there, Deodato stays true to the illusion that the film is for real and sets it up with tests at the opening and ending of the movie – “For the sake of authenticity, some of the sequences have been retained in their entirety” is stated in the opening, and works just like those great lines of dialogue. As the movie comes to it’s end, the following text is resented "Projectionist John K. Kirov was given a two-month suspended sentence and fined $10,000 for illegal appropriation of film material. We know that he received $250,000 for the same footage." Still staying with the illusion this gives something of an open ending, for even though the cynical TV producers may have come to insight and demanded that the footage be destroyed, the editor who we saw in the movie didn’t and corrupted by the power of exploitation he sold the footage into others hands. It keeps the line between fact and fiction blurry, which is a condition for the movie to work. With that said, it is also of significance to point out that the animal cruelty is part of that same narrative, as it is the killings that sell the illusion of the violent deaths at the last half of the film. The movie may have worked without the animal deaths, or less of them, but that authenticity is what makes us believe the atrocities and carnage that are presented. It’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking that still to this day is very effective, and I challenge anyone who has not seen it yet to watch it and walk away unaffected. It is not possible. Technically the movie is amazing, there’s the contrasting hand held 16mm vs. the solid, stable 35mm shot by cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi [Lucio Fulci’s The Eroticist & Non si sevizia un paperino (Don’t Torture a Duckling) 1972 and later that year Deodato’s La casa sperduta nel parco (House on the Edge of the Park) 1980] and masterfully edited by Fulci’s editor Vincenzo Tomassi who undoubtedly was a valuable part of bringing the realism of this magnificent movie to life. There’s the great performances by the unknown actors Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi and Carl Gabriel Yorke. Even former adult actor Robert Kerman sells the part – even though the movie didn’t give him the big break in serious acting that he wanted and returned to the adult industry. It’s almost like watching clockworks where everything perfectly fits into each other to make the motion flow smoothly. On that critique against the genre – well it’s easy to find it when you are looking for it. In the genesis of Cannibal Holocaust it’s said that Deodato was inspired by two things: one claims he watched news reports with his son and realised that all the reporting was focusing on the violence and not the stories behind the events, which lead him to suspect that some stories where arranged in attempts to create more sensational material. The second is that he saw a documentary on the same topic that Cannibal Holocaust is about – the transmission of missing footage, and it’s said that what was shown on TV was much worse than anything in the movie. And that’s where the critique is found. Just as the Mondo genre also staged, arranged and provoked sensationalistic material, this is what Alan Yates and his team do too. There are several referrals to becoming famous and receiving an Oscar for their material. There’s a cynicism there - fame and fortune, but at what cost. This line of questioning returns several times and it’s also apparent when Monroe starts going through the footage and the TV executives start drooling over the sensational footage they are holding. They even show him Yates previous movie “The Road to Hell” – which uses the exact same font as the opening sequence of Cannibal Holocaust, all to expand on the illusion that it’s all real - which too has authentic executions. But the executives make sure to point out that Yates staged it all as Yates “knew what he was after”. This also rings true for the Mondo genre, which frequently was questioned. But the TV executives, just like exploitation film producers can only see the profits in the material and do not care much for Monroe’s objecting until they are forced to see the material. But the question remains –at what cost can we continue producing exploitative entertainment? This is best exemplified in that last line of dialogue “I Wonder who the real Cannibals are?” It invites the viewers to look inwards and question themselves, and realise that the rhetoric question is posed to us. One of the most remarkable things with Cannibal Holocaust is the ironic melancholy that Riz Ortolani’s splendid soundtrack brings with it. Appreciating the contrast of harsh imagery set against soft gentle music found in Cavara/Jacopetti/Prosperi's Mondo Cane 1962, Deodato approached Ortolani to compose a score reminiscent of that soundtrack, specifically the track More - nominated for an Academy Award and at one time covered by the great Frank Sinatra - and the result is one of the best scores ever composed. A magnificent piece of work that at times is romantically naïve and mordantly primal, great stuff. There’s no way around it, Cannibal Holocaust is a fantastic piece of cinema without even cramming it into any specific genre slot. It’s disturbing, harrowing, transgressive, revolting and at times sarcastically comical in the darkest way, and a damned fine movie still to this day. It makes no difference what ever little niche you may be into, Cannibal Holocaust touches on them all, and it is a masterpiece of cinema that desperately needs to be re-evaluated and placed amongst the great classics of celluloid history. There are currently several releases of this eminent movie available, with a varied amount of extras to each release. The only thing you need to be sure of, is that you buy the uncut version, if you don’t already have it that is. If not, you know what your next purchase should be.

“Going to watch movies all evening because days like today I need to escape reality” … Is what my MSN status might have been about ten years ago. But even though MSN is long dead *RIP*, I still love being dragged to a new adventure in a fictional country or kingdom far far away! Here are a few of those magical places I would love to visit. Does anyone know the owner of the Grand Budapest Hotel in the Republic of Zubrowka? Because I’d really love to get a friendly rate and access to the all hidden secrets! But then again… if it’s in the East Europe it should be affordable. And can I have Mendl’s Pastry from room service? Waffles at JJ Diner, drinks at Tom’s Bistro, leaving flowers at the L’ll Sebastian Memorial, a walk in the park and maybe an organised tour through City Hall. Come to think of it, I think Pawnee, Indiana needs it’s own wanderlist post… Have a burger at Bob’s Burger and spend a weekend at their Bed & Breakfast. Let’s hope Blue Is The Warmest Cheese Burger or Kales From The Crypt Burger are on the menu for my stay, and of course an extra side of antics! In the latest Avengers epic, the superheroes more or less obliterated the fictional country of Sokovia and it hurt because reminds me so much of my home country Bosnia, plus before it got HULK SMASHED and god knows what else thrown at it, it looked like a great place to explore – especially starting with the castle. Crowded and expensive theme parks aren’t for me but I would make an exception for Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna from the Jurassic Park series. I mean … Hello! Dinosaurs? And Jeff Goldblum. I’d listen to his lectures on game theory all day… Yeah, so seaside Piers are not usually the coolest place to be seen, but send me back to the 2000s, West Coast, sunshine, and Orange Country. If they let me into the Bait Shop, I’d never leave… Have a drink at the Mos Eisley Cantina for a quick break on my intergalactic quest … preferably with Han Solo and Chewbacca by my side. How many drinks before I can get Solo to dance with me and forget all about that Princess Leia and her silly hair? Drive through Twin Peaks and chow down on a cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee at Double R Diner, and just as I take my first bite, getting sucked into the Laura Palmer mystery. Why not? Coffee and cake at Luke’s Diner? And then attending whatever Stars Hollow has going on? I would love the 24 Hour Dance marathon, but I would probably give up after a few hours and go back to Luke’s for a burger and a drink from Taylor’s Olde Fashion Soda Shoppe.Then head to my bed at the Dragonfly Inn. Were you a Jess, Dean or Logan girl? Which fictional place would like to be transported to? You would think that after 1½ years I’ve seen and done everything in the city, but nothing could be further from the truth and my London Wanderlist changes weekly. Here are the top 15 things of the moment. Have an afternoon tea. This is something I just haven’t come around to doing yet. See a play at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, I just have to wait till the summer starts and I can grab one of those £5 standing tickets. Hop on the Cable Car and see the view from that side. The Emirates Air Line takes you from one side of the Thames to the other. Visit the Mapping the City exhibition at Somerset House because you know … I love maps. Visit the almighty Tower of London. It’s probably the only major tourist attraction I haven’t been to. In 2015 I must chance that. See anything at the Royal Albert Hall. In December Cereal Killer Cafe opened their cereal walhalla doors and I must go asap and have an Unicorn Poop or the one with the Kinder Happy Hippo (which I recently re-discovered in Germany). See The Book of Mormon. I haven’t been to a musical since Wicked in 2008 because they are not really for me, but this one doesn’t seem to be your average musical. Stroll around Columbia Road Flower Market. Find out what Hint Hunt is all about. I’ve heard so much about this escape game and I want to be on the side that knows what it’s about. See if Tramshed is worth the hype. Go on an Underground Tunnel tour. They are doing tours at the closed Aldwych Station once a year and I haven’t managed to get tickets because they sell out in seconds (no exaggeration sadly). This is where they filmed bits of Atonement, V for Vendetta and even Sherlock. Take a photo at Abbey Road…do I even need a reason? Eat at 64 Degrees which recently opened in London. I went to the Brighton location and loved every bite and besides their food I love that their plates are made to share so you can order more dishes. And this is the perfect solution for someone who can never pick what to have (moi). Prince Charles Cinema does things like a Mean Girls Quota A Thon and Wes Anderson marathons and I haven’t got around doing any of those. Soooo not fetch of me. & a happy new year you all! Today I am sharing my celebrations and festivals around the world Wanderlist. All the Thanksgiving related posts in my Bloglovin list made me think of celebrations and festivals I’ve experienced, as well as the ones on my list I’ve still yet to enjoy. Thanksgiving – I see all these photos with delicious food and happy family times. I love pumpkins, I love pie, I love cranberries and I love family gatherings, so I think this one is for me. Sure I’ve had fake Euro Thanksgivings but even the hosts admitted it’s just not the same. Anyone inviting me for Thanksgiving 2015? Dias de los Muertos – I know day of the dead has been glorified outside Mexico, but I want to see how it is in the country itself. I like how the holiday focuses on gathering family and friends together to remember and honour the deceased. They celebrate that the deceased return to their homes back on earth to visit and celebrate with their beloved ones. Midsummer – decorating your house, braiding your hair, dancing around the May pole to celebrate the longest day of the year in Sweden … it has Tea written all over it. Who is putting forward their summer cottage for Midsummer 2015? La Tomatina – There is just something about running down the streets of Bunol and throwing and ducking for tomatoes. I like to think of it as two teams against each other: one shouting ‘tomato’ and throwing at the other team who claim it’s ‘tomato’. Hell of a playground. Yes, let’s schedule this for August 2015 … or June 2015, where the Colombian spin-off takes place in Sutamarchán. Yi Peng Latern Festival – this lantern festival in Chiang Mai, Taiwan celebrates the cleansing of evil and disease from the town. People decorate lanterns with wishes off into the sky to let others know that the town was safe. One week after the official Yi Peng ceremony there is a lantern release for tourists and it’s only accessible for people who bought for a ticket in advance. Holi – In the recent years every self-respecting city organised a colour festival, but it just doesn’t speak to me. For the real experience (the one where people look at you because you are not covered in coloured powder instead of the other way round) you have to be in India. Have you experienced any of these? And what celebrations are on your list? My wanderlist changes weekly and ranges from 100 things I still have to do in London all the way to going into outer space. Really, if they asked me to jump on the ship and establish a permanent human settlement on Mars I would do it (but not before I’ve seen all seasons of Breaking Bad). But let’s look at six of my more reasonable destinations …

WASHINGTON. Fino al 13 settembre NMWA allestirà una mostra tematica, che ospita opere di artiste emergenti provenienti dai paesi in cui il museo è presente con comitati nazionali. In mostra una rosa di cinque artiste tra cui il duo italiano “Goldschmied & Chiari”, Sara Goldschmied e Eleonora Chiari, che esporranno l’opera Nympheas#12 (2007, Lambda print, cm 125×333), ironica e poetica rivisitazione dell’immaginario impressionistico di Claude Monet, che combina un registro aulico e uno più popolare, non tralasciando una riflessione su tematiche ambientali e di genere. Le due artista sono il filo conduttore di una partnership al femminile tra Roma, Milano e Washington DC per Women to Watch 2015, il concorso indetto ogni due anni dal National Museum of Women in the Arts di Washington D.C. Un’anticipazione delle opere anche al MiArt, la fiera milanese dedicata all’arte che è andata in scena lo scorso aprile, dove il duo italiano ha mostrato in anteprima due opere dal titolo Medusa Mirrors (digital print on mirror, cm 135×225) risultato di una ricerca sul tema dello specchio come strumento d’illusione, ispirata anche alle suggestioni del cinema surrealista. WASHINGTON—The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) presents Organic Matters—Women to Watch 2015, the fourth installment of NMWA’s biennial Women to Watch exhibition series. On view June 5–Sept. 13, 2015, this exhibition explores the relationships between women, art and nature, examining contemporary women artists’ complex views and inventive treatments related to the theme of nature. Through a diverse array of mediums, including photography, drawing, sculpture and video, the featured artists depict fragile ecosystems, otherworldly landscapes and creatures both real and imagined. This series presents emerging or underrepresented artists from the states and countries in which the museum has outreach committees. Committees participating in Women to Watch 2015 worked with curators in their respective regions to create shortlists of artists working with the subject of nature. From this group, NMWA curators selected 13 artists, one representing each of the participating committees. “The connection between women and nature has a long history, one that is fraught with gendered stereotypes and discriminatory assumptions,” said NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling. “The contemporary artists selected for the 2015 installment of Women to Watch turn this archaic paradigm upside-down.” Historically, women artists were encouraged to take the natural world as their subject because still lifes and portraiture seemed to require merely the power of observation, in contrast to history and religious painting, which required invention and imagination. “The artists highlighted in Organic Matters build upon and expand the pre-existing conceptualizations of women’s relationship with nature by actively investigating the natural world—to fanciful and sometimes frightful effect,” said NMWA Associate Curator Virginia Treanor. “Collectively, their work addresses modern society’s complex relationship with the environment, ranging from concern for its future to fear of its power.” Artists of the feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s embraced the idea of women’s supposed bond with nature and focused on new subjects, including the figure of the mother goddess. The environmental movement developed alongside, and often intertwined with, the feminist movement. The proponents of what is sometimes labeled “ecofeminism” argue that the domination of nature and women by patriarchal systems are inextricably linked, being viewed as existing to serve the needs of man. This philosophy holds that men, women and nature are inseparably bound in a common ecosystem, each relying on the others for survival. The artwork featured in Organic Matters highlights the many different aspects of nature. In some works, the natural world is the only protagonist. Ysabel LeMay’s hyper-manipulated image of flora and fauna in Reflection (2014) conveys a sense of respite and refuge from the civilized world, while others, such as the hauntingly beautiful photographs from Lara Shipley’s series Devil’s Promenade, evoke humanity’s primal fear of the wild and the unknown terrors that lurk there. The relationship between humans and nature is captured in works like Andrea Lira’s video sequence RHYTHMS (2013), which speaks to the interdependence of humans and plants and the simultaneous fragility and tenacity of both. In Mimi Kato’s hybrid digital landscapes, the woods are a place of enforced and regulated recreation, invariably altered by those who visit, while Dawn Holder’s Monoculture (2013) more obliquely references humans’ detrimental manipulation of nature through her manicured porcelain “lawn.” Pollution and climate change are the subjects of Jennifer Celio’s meticulous drawings that make explicit the threat of human encroachment upon the natural world, while the photography of Italian duo Goldschmied & Chiari takes a more lyrical approach, referencing iconic Western painting styles such as French Impressionism within carefully constructed compositions. Mary Tsiongas’s videos actually incorporate works by past artists of New Mexico such as the botanical illustrator Edward M. Skeats, mediating nature through art as well as art through technology. Empirical scientific observations act as the foundation of Rachel Sussman’s photographs, which document some of the oldest organisms on the planet, and Rebecca Hutchinson’s ethereal constructions made from porcelain paper clay are based on the artist’s close observation of nature. Jiha Moon fuses nature and ethos in her works in paint and ceramic, where repeated and juxtaposed motifs of animals, fruit and flowers offer a multiplicity of meaning, signifying both American and Korean culture. Oversized children and animals are paired in dream-like vignettes in Françoise Pétrovitch’s works, while Polly Morgan uses taxidermy animals to likewise address the primordial concerns of all organisms—life and death. The Women to Watch series expresses NMWA’s commitment to presenting the work of emerging artists as well as the vital role of the museum’s outreach committees. NMWA currently has 18 outreach committees with more than 2,000 dedicated members throughout the United States and around the world and continues to expand its network. Members work with local museum directors and curators, education experts and business leaders to capitalize on their region’s artistic, financial and educational strengths and resources in order to develop meaningful programming and build a bridge between their communities and the museum. Organic Matters—Women to Watch 2015 is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and generously sponsored by its participating committees in Arkansas, Southern California, Chile, France, Georgia, Italy, the Greater Kansas City Area, Massachusetts, New Mexico, the Greater New York Area, Ohio, Texas and the United Kingdom, and by the members of NMWA. Support for Les Amis du NMWA (France) is provided by the GRoW Annenberg Foundation, and support for Gli Amici del NMWA (Italy) is provided by Vhernier.

Whether it’s cinema or music, Citroens or the Queen – Monaco has something for everyone this week. Check out our exclusive picks for this week’s ‘What’s On In Monaco’ from CityOut… Monday June 12th Cinema: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead men tell no tales (2017) Captain Jack Sparrow searches for the trident of Poseidon while being pursued by an undead sea captain and his crew. At the Princess Grace Theatre – 21:00 - Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem - Director: Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg - Genre: Action | Adventure | Fantasy - Running time: 2h09 - More details: Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (www.IMDB.com) For More Information: - Cinema website: Cinema des Beaux-Arts Monaco Programme. Tuesday June 13th Picnic Music: Amy Winehouse A Picnic Music event in the Sonotheque (music library): A stunning screening of Amy Winehouse’s performance, live at Porchester Hall in 2007. - free entry - open to all Picnic Music is a regular midday event on Tuesdays at the Sonotheque, where a concert is screened during lunch break. For more information: - Phone: +377 93 30 64 48 - Venue website: Monaco Mairie Agenda. Wednesday June 14th British Association: Queen’s birthday cocktail 2017 Why not celebrate the Queen’s birthday at the Salon Bellevue: Cafe de Paris: Join an awesome party to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. There will be British music whilst other well known tunes are provided by the Band of the Carabiniers and guest singer, Alicia Sedgwick. - tickets 50 euros - dress code: cocktail - duration 1h30 For more information and prepaid reservations, visit the BAM website: British Association of Monaco. Thursday June 15th Manu Carre European Jazz 4tet Live jazz at Note Bleue in the jazz lounge. Check out two performances on 15th and 22nd June, by saxophonist Manu Carre. - free entry For more information: Friday 16th June Monte Carlo Television Festival 2017 The 57th edition of television event takes place at the Grimaldi Forum. From 16th to 20th June, the Monte Carlo Television Festival rewards the best television programs and their creators with the world famous, Nymphes d’Or. There are preview screenings of new series, autograph signings, international actors and producers, special events, soirees and receptions, including the Nymphes d’Or (golden nymphs) Awards Ceremony. - Programme: Festival de Television de Monte Carlo - buy VIP tickets from: Soirees VIP du Festival - Fri 16 Jun 17:30 at Grimaldi Forum, opening evening, 590 euros - Tue 20 Jun 17:30 at Grimaldi Forum, gala evening, 790 euros For more information visit the event website: Monte Carlo Television Festival. Saturday 17th June Fete de la Mer 2017 This year’s party on the sea takes place at the Yacht Club of Monaco, and starts at 10am. The day dedicated to boating, with introductory sessions for water sports, a sea parade, and rescue demonstrations. Organized by the Yacht Club of Monaco in collaboration with the Mairie de Monaco, the Pontons de Monaco and the Societe Nautique. For more information visit the organizer’s facebook page at: Yacht Club de Monaco. Sunday 18th June Citroen 2CV Rally Taking places at Several different places in Monaco, take the opportunity to join in the fundraising rally for 2CV cars, raising money for paediatric oncology services at CHU L’ Archet II in Nice. Entry 250 euros pp includes car and lunch box. Numbers are limited. - 9:00 departs Monte Carlo Beach - 19:00 returns Place du Casino - 20:00 dinner Salle Bellevue Cafe de Paris To take part: - Phone: 06 07 87 82 81 - Email email@example.com Organized by Monaco Liver Disorder, the Association des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Monaco and the Faculte de Medecine de Nice.

Er… I think I got the date wrong on my last blog – it should have been “Winter’s log, earthdate 201701.03”, not “Winter’s log, earthdate 201701.04”, because the 4th was yesterday, and I didn’t write anything last night because we went out to see “Rogue One” at Century City Gold Class, and by the time we got home at around a quarter to six I was too busy thinking about the movie, and about the delicious lamb and fetta pizza, and the over-the-top chocolate Sundae – that I really shouldn’t have eaten, but did anyway… (not to mention the “sampler” tray of three different flavoured pop-corns that we had first!) to feel like writing anything! Sorry about that, chiefs! 🙂 Well, let me cast my mind back to yesterday… In the morning, our friend Josh came over in an overt attempt to smuggle Sal out in his bag, and to do my hair for me. We didn’t need to be at the theatre until about 2.30 pm (the movie started at 3.15 pm) so we had “a light lunch” at home, as we intended to have something to eat during the movie. You see we only go to the movies about once a year – twice, if we’re terribly lucky – and because we go to see a movie so seldom, we always make an “occasion” out of it and go to a Gold Class cinema, where we usually have a meal and something to drink, about half way through the movie. So as I said, we had a “light luncheon” at home before we left – half a spicy, savoury pizza roll each, and a sort-of a custard-ee scroll with sort-of dribblee icing. Now, because the movie started later than we usually book for, we didn’t want to have a “proper lunch” there, we just wanted a bit of a “fill up snack” and a drink – and nothing else at home for dinner, because we figured that we’d still be too full from what we’d eaten during the movie. However, we did go a little bit overboard on the food front – I had a lamb and feta pizza, which was utterly delicious (pizza has been on my “bucket” list since August 2014, when I started on my Optifast diet!) and… I had a brownie fudge Sundae. I couldn’t help it! It’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction with me – if I see the word “chocolate”, followed by the word “brownie” – that’s it! I’m hooked like a hungry whale shark! Throw in the word “fudge” for good measure, and I just can’t help myself – I have to have it! Now, as I’m sure you all know, movie theatres are fairly dark, when the movie’s playing, and your typical, common or garden variety Sundae dish is sort-of long and narrow, and the one my chocolate fudge brownie came in was no exception. In this long, narrow dish they’d managed to squeeze three average sized chocolate brownies, cream (and lots of it!), chocolate sauce, salted caramel sauce, and… three normal-sized scoops of ice-cream – chocolate, caramel and vanilla! The ice-cream froze the cream, and the chocolate brownies were a little hard from being underneath all that ice-cream, making it quite difficult to cut into with a spoon. The whole thing was very awkward and messily perilous to eat, sitting with your feet up, and in the darkness of a movie theatre – but I bravely persevered, and managed to get it all into my tummy and not all over my clothes! I also had a mocktail before we went in – I can’t remember what it was called now, but it had elderflower cordial, fresh mint leaves, pineapple juice and apple juice in it, and we ordered a “sampler” of three different flavoured pop-corns to take in with us. There were about seven different flavours, and I chose “white raspberry”, which was nice, I guess – but a little bit too sweet, really, the corn kernels were quite small too, so it ended up being more like eating toffee’d pomegranate seeds! The next flavour I picked was “salted caramel”, and it was really nice – but the best one of all was the “Maple-flavoured Bacon” pop-corn! The corn kernels were the largest of the three different flavours, and they were delicious! I had my usual long black, with a small side jug of skinny milk – and you know what? Their coffee there at Gold Class isn’t half bad! 🙂 especially as it came with a very nice little Lindt chocolate ball! 🙂 So we ate a lot there, but we didn’t have anything at all for the rest of the night at home – just coffee, and a bit later, a cup of tea. The movie itself was quite confusing at first! It’s set somewhere between Episode III, “Revenge of the Sith”, and Episode IV (the very first of the Star Wars movies!) “A New Hope” – in fact, “Rogue One” ends on Captain Antilles’ Alderaan Cruiser, and we see Princess Leia being handed the stolen plans for the Death Star, just as they’re being boarded by Darth Vader and his Imperial Troopers… (cue: “Imperial March” music and segue into Episode IV “A New Hope”) It was a bit tough working out who was who at first, as we’d been assiduously avoiding spoilers since “Rogue One” was released, but it wasn’t all that hard to follow. The special effects were quite brilliant, and although 99¾% of the main cast characters die, it does have a very satisfactory ending 🙂 All in all, it was a good movie, and if you’ve seen all the other Star Wars movies (especially Episode IV “A New Hope”!) do go and see this one! It ties up a lot of loose ends and “but whatever happened to…” queries. Although several characters from “A New Hope” have passed, special effects and CGI were used brilliantly to “replicate “, or re-create them! Our cleaning lady was over today, and as we suspected, Sal nearly turned himself inside out over the vacuum cleaner! He ran for his life yesterday when Josh turned on the hair dryer, and he knows Josh – he’s never met our cleaning lady though (who is really a very nice young lady!) and the much bigger and noisier vacuum cleaner, with its long boa constrictor-like hose (it’s an in-house vacuum) sent him into a bit of a tail-spin! He vanished – and we looked everywhere for him. In the end, I grabbed his big jar of pussy biscuits and rattled it – that usually makes him materialise out of thin air – but this time? Nada! I came back in here while I thought about where else in the house he might be hiding, and all of a sudden, there he was in front of me, mewing piteously, and saying “You rattled the code for “pussy-biscuits”, so where are they then?! My bowl is empty, and I’m starving!”. I don’t think that Auric and Dapple even notice the vacuum cleaner – they just continue to swimmel around as usual 🙂 On Monday we’re going to pick up our new Bengal boy – I hope he’ll fit right in, but I’m suspecting that it may take a while for him to adjust I have a list of possible names for him as long as your arm – I just can’t make up my mind – and of course, a lot depends on what he wants to be called! Today for lunch we had a very delicious sandwich, with cold sandwich-sliced roast beef, tomato, chopped lettuce, cheese, and some of that yummy, but totally imaginary Baxters “Fig, Date and Balsamic Chutney”, and for dinner tonight we’re having a commercially stuffed chicken breast, the stuffing being apricots and macadamias. It sounds really delicious, but the proof of the chicken, and all that… we’ll be having steamed rice mixed with finely chopped spring onion, and for dessert I’ll be having an “ordinary” green pear (a Packham) and an Apple Le Rice. Weigh-in Wednesday (yesterday) 71.4 kg Weigh-in Thursday (today) 71.4 kg Not too bad, considering the way I’ve been stuffing myself for the past couple of days! I suppose we’ll have to see what tomorrow brings! Which brings me up to tomorrow, and I hate to say that I have absolutely no idea what’s happening! I’d say “more of the same”, except that we’re not going to the movies, and the cleaning lady won’t be here – however I think that we should perhaps start preparing to batten down the hatches, and put any and all delicate breakables away in a safe, cushioned and padded place where paws, claws and tails can’t get at them, for on Monday, “Trouble” arrives! Oh, and we’d better get a second cat harness… And that’s really about “it” from me for this evening! Do drop in again tomorrow night to find out what we did do during the day! Until then though, please try to bee good, don’t forget that your assumptions are your windows on the world – scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in, and remember to always drive carefully, to keep cool – or warm – depending on your preferences, and to look after yourselves… but above all, please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂

The worldwide hit Paddington became the most successful non-US studio family film of all time. The sequel (predictably, Paddington 2) continues the story of the young Peruvian bear who came to London in search of a home. Having found that home with the Browns in Windsor Gardens, life is set for Paddington. While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s (Imelda Staunton) forthcoming 100th birthday, Paddington spots a unique but expensive pop-up book in Mr Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop. He embarks upon a series of odd jobs so he can raise enough money to buy it. But the book has also caught the eye of a local celebrity Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), whose designs on the hardback are less than altruistic. Paddington Bear was first introduced to children in Michael Bond’s 1958 book, A Bear Called Paddington. Paddington’s Finest Hour, the last book written by Bond (who passed away in June this year) was released in January 2017. In between, Bond wrote more than 20 books featuring the loveable bear. They’ve collectively sold 35 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. The little bear from Peru, whose perfect manners and good intentions frequently lead to comical mishaps, has captured hearts the world over. The first movie appears to have done the same, maintaining the wonderful blend of warmth, whimsy and wit. Not surprisingly, the second sticks with the same tried-and-true formula. Paul King is back as co-writer and director. His fellow writer in this one is Simon Farnaby, rather than Hamish McColl. Jon Croker (Desert Dancer) provides additional material. The main actors – Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters and, not to forget, Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington – return. I saw Paddington 2 with a cinema packed full of kids; and they can be harsh critics. While they were understandably boisterous before the film started, the chatter stopped for the whole movie – a very good sign. Some of the sight gags are terrific. The storyline is quite involved and totally and utterly preposterous, but then it is about a talking bear! Paddington’s kind nature is on display in everything he does. So too is his incompetence – which results in some of those gags I referred to. Above all though, his charm is a big winner. Hugh Grant plays a most delightful cad. You could argue that this was the sort of role he was born to play. It’s a “look at me” performance. While his character is bound to get his comeuppance, he has a lot of fun along the way. Remember to stay on as the credits roll, because the filmmakers do a good job wrapping up the storyline in those couple of minutes. Paddington 2 doesn’t have the darkness that a number of family movies do these days. I enjoyed portions of it very much. Although other elements were predictable and fanciful, I can see the appeal for youngsters. In summary, the first one was better, but Paddington 2 is a decent sequel. Director: Paul King Cast: Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Grant Release Date: 21 December 2017 Other reviews you might enjoy: David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television

We have so many gadgets from phones to laptops and hand held readers that travelling with these and staying charged can be quite the challenge. You don’t want to be tangled up in cords, carrying too many chargers, it just takes up space. With so many chargers, battery packs, converters on the market, it is hard to know what to choose that will suit your travelling needs. We checked out some of the Belkin range, and was not disappointed with what they offered. Why you need it Belkin makes a range of products that come in really handy when on the road. If you want to stay connected while being mobile, then power and charge is a necessity for all your electronic goods. We have put together a travel pack of must haves from the Belkin range, so you can stay connected while out exploring the wild, including the DuraTek Lightning to USB Cable, Global Travel Kit and Surge Plus – USB World Travel Surge Protector. DuraTek Lightning to USB Cable features Kevlar, a high strength synthetic fiber used as a reinforcing agent to strengthen the conductors and enhance protection. The drain wiring helps with added protection and insulated conductors reduce friction while creating added flexibility and protection. It’s shield-braid and metalized Mylar shielding help to protect the cable from external electro magnetic interference and the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) cable jacket is soft, pliable, and environmentally friendly. Available for iPhone and iPad. RRP $39.95 Global Travel Kit is the Universal charger for ALL countries that works with any device. It features 6 interchangeable regional plugs in one box for 2.4A output for fastest charging. It also comes with Belkin CEW protection up to $2,500. RRP $49.95 USB World Travel Surge Protector has 5 interchangeable plugs for protection in over 150 countries and 2 universal USB ports (2.4A shared). The 2-Surge protected AC outlets has a surge protection indicator light. It also comes with data recovery warranty and $50,000 Connected Equipment Warranty. RRP $69.95 Why you will love it DuraTek Lightning to USB Cable will last through the tough conditions you will put it through while out on the road, exploring or camping because its double-braided nylon exterior is abrasion resistant, reducing fraying and lasting longer. Global Travel Kit means you only need to carry the one charger, not have multiple ones for different countries. This means less things to carry and more space, something that is essential when travelling. USB World Travel Surge Protector means you can charge safe, knowing that your equipment is covered from any surges (which can happen). The peace of mind this offer is worth its weight in gold. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT www.belkin.com/au/ - Italo Ferreira and Caroline Marks Win Quiksilver Pro on Gold Coast - Apr 11, 2019 - Jetwing Surf Unravels Mystique of Sri Lanka’s East Coast - Apr 11, 2019 - Last spots for 2019 on whale swim in Tonga tour - Mar 14, 2019 - Margaret River Pro secured until 2021 - Mar 14, 2019 - A barefoot surf cinema night - Jan 8, 2019 - Coachella 2019 lineup announced - Jan 3, 2019 - Luxury Sustainable Surf Program - Dec 12, 2018 - Most instagramable surf spots - Dec 9, 2018 - Enter the Nikon Surf Photo contest - Dec 6, 2018 - Sharkbanz - Dec 6, 2018

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. Tourism may be international, or within the traveller's country. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Tourism suffered as a result of a strong economic slowdown of the late-2000s recession, between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, and the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, but slowly recovered. International tourism receipts (the travel item in the balance of payments) grew to US$1.03 trillion (€740 billion) in 2005, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 3.8% from 2010. International tourist arrivals surpassed the milestone of 1 billion tourists globally for the first time in 2012, emerging markets such as China, Russia, and Brazil had significantly increased their spending over the previous decade. The ITB Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair. Global tourism accounts for ca. 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The word tourist was used in 1772 and tourism in 1811. It is formed from the word tour, which is derived from Old English turian, from Old French torner, from Latin tornare; 'to turn on a lathe,' which is itself from Ancient Greek tornos (τόρνος); 'lathe'. Significance of tourismEdit Tourism has become an important source of income for many regions and even entire countries. The Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 recognized its importance as "an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies, and on their international relations." Tourism brings large amounts of income into a local economy in the form of payment for goods and services needed by tourists, accounting as of 2011[update] for 30% of the world's trade in services, and for 6% of overall exports of goods and services. It also generates opportunities for employment in the service sector of the economy associated with tourism. The hospitality industries which benefit from tourism include transportation services (such as airlines, cruise ships, trains and taxicabs); lodging, including hotels, hostels, homestays, and resorts; and entertainment venues (such as amusement parks, restaurants, casinos, shopping malls, music venues, and theatres). This is in addition to goods bought by tourists, including souvenirs. On the flip-side, tourism can degrade people and sour relationships between host and guest. In 1936, the League of Nations defined a foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months. In 1941, Hunziker and Kraft defined tourism as "the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity." In 1976, the Tourism Society of England's definition was: "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes." In 1981, the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined tourism in terms of particular activities chosen and undertaken outside the home. - Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country traveling only within this country - Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling in the given country - Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in another country The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a similar definition to tourism, but implies a more purposeful journey. The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or locations visited. By contrast, traveler is often used as a sign of distinction. The sociology of tourism has studied the cultural values underpinning these distinctions and their implications for class relations. World tourism statistics and rankingsEdit Total volume of cross-border tourist travelEdit International tourist arrivals reached 1.035 billion in 2012, up from over 996 million in 2011, and 952 million in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, international travel demand continued to recover from the losses resulting from the late-2000s recession, where tourism suffered a strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009. After a 5% increase in the first half of 2008, growth in international tourist arrivals moved into negative territory in the second half of 2008, and ended up only 2% for the year, compared to a 7% increase in 2007. The negative trend intensified during 2009, exacerbated in some countries due to the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, resulting in a worldwide decline of 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million international tourists arrivals, and a 5.7% decline in international tourism receipts. World's top tourism destinationsEdit The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten destinations as the most visited in terms of the number of international travelers in 2017. |3||United States||North America||75.9 million| |6||Mexico||North America||39.3 million| |7||United Kingdom||Europe||37.7 million| International tourism receiptsEdit International tourism receipts grew to US$1.26 Trillion in 2015, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.4% from 2014. The World Tourism Organization reports the following entities as the top ten tourism earners for the year 2015: |1||United States||North America||$204.5 billion| |5||United Kingdom||Europe||$45.5 billion| |9||Hong Kong||Asia||$36.2 billion| International tourism expenditureEdit The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries as the ten biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2015. |2||United States||North America||$112.9 billion| |4||United Kingdom||Europe||$63.3 billion| |7||Canada||North America||$29.4 billion| |8||South Korea||Asia||$25.0 billion| Euromonitor International Top City Destinations RankingEdit Euromonitor International rated these the world's cities most visited by international tourists in 2017: |1||Hong Kong||Hong Kong||27.88 million| |3||London||United Kingdom||19.82 million| |7||Dubai||United Arab Emirates||15.79 million| |8||New York City||United States||13.10 million| |9||Kuala Lumpur||Malaysia||12.84 million| World Travel and Tourism CouncilEdit |5||São Tomé and Príncipe||30.1%| Travel outside a person's local area for leisure was largely confined to wealthy classes, who at times traveled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings and works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures, and to taste different cuisines. As early as Shulgi, however, kings praised themselves for protecting roads and building way stations for travelers. Travelling for pleasure can be seen in Egypt as early on as 1500 BC. During the Roman Republic, spas and coastal resorts such as Baiae were popular among the rich. Pausanias wrote his Description of Greece in the second century AD. In ancient China, nobles sometimes made a point of visiting Mount Tai and, on occasion, all five Sacred Mountains. By the Middle Ages, Christianity and Buddhism and Islam had traditions of pilgrimage. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West remain classics of English and Chinese literature. The 10th- to 13th-century Song dynasty also saw secular travel writers such as Su Shi (11th century) and Fan Chengda (12th century) become popular in China. Under the Ming, Xu Xiake continued the practice. In medieval Italy, Francesco Petrarch also wrote an allegorical account of his 1336 ascent of Mount Ventoux that praised the act of traveling and criticized frigida incuriositas ("cold lack of curiosity"). The Burgundian poet Michault Taillevent later composed his own horrified recollections of a 1430 trip through the Jura Mountains. Modern tourism can be traced to what was known as the Grand Tour, which was a traditional trip around Europe (especially Germany and Italy), undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, mainly from Western and Northern European countries. In 1624, young Prince of Poland, Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, the eldest son and heir of Sigismund III, embarked for a journey across Europe, as was in custom among Polish nobility. He travelled through territories of today's Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, where he admired the Siege of Breda by Spanish forces, France, Switzerland to Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. It was an educational journey and one of the outcomes was introduction of Italian opera in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and generally followed a standard itinerary. It was an educational opportunity and rite of passage. Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar trips were made by wealthy young men of Protestant Northern European nations on the Continent, and from the second half of the 18th century some South American, US, and other overseas youth joined in. The tradition was extended to include more of the middle class after rail and steamship travel made the journey easier, and Thomas Cook made the "Cook's Tour" a byword. The Grand Tour became a real status symbol for upper class students in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this period, Johann Joachim Winckelmann's theories about the supremacy of classic culture became very popular and appreciated in the European academic world. Artists, writers and travellers (such as Goethe) affirmed the supremacy of classic art of which Italy, France and Greece provide excellent examples. For these reasons, the Grand Tour's main destinations were to those centres, where upper-class students could find rare examples of classic art and history. The New York Times recently described the Grand Tour in this way: Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishmen began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of Western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills and mingled with the upper crust of the Continent.— Gross, Matt., Lessons From the Frugal Grand Tour." New York Times 5 September 2008. The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, laid in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent. Emergence of leisure travelEdit This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom – the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population. Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, factory owners and traders. These comprised the new middle class. Cox & Kings was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758. The British origin of this new industry is reflected in many place names. In Nice, France, one of the first and best-established holiday resorts on the French Riviera, the long esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the Promenade des Anglais; in many other historic resorts in continental Europe, old, well-established palace hotels have names like the Hotel Bristol, Hotel Carlton, or Hotel Majestic – reflecting the dominance of English customers. A pioneer of the travel agency business, Thomas Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London Road at Kibworth. With the opening of the extended Midland Counties Railway, he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street station to a rally in Loughborough, eleven miles (18 km) away. On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one shilling per person; this included rail tickets and food for the journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares charged to the passengers, as the railway tickets, being legal contracts between company and passenger, could not have been issued at his own price.[clarification needed] This was the first privately chartered excursion train to be advertised to the general public; Cook himself acknowledged that there had been previous, unadvertised, private excursion trains. During the following three summers he planned and conducted outings for temperance societies and Sunday school children. In 1844 the Midland Counties Railway Company agreed to make a permanent arrangement with him, provided he found the passengers. This success led him to start his own business running rail excursions for pleasure, taking a percentage of the railway fares. In 1855, he planned his first excursion abroad, when he took a group from Leicester to Calais to coincide with the Paris Exhibition. The following year he started his "grand circular tours" of Europe. During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and the United States. Cook established "inclusive independent travel", whereby the traveller went independently but his agency charged for travel, food and accommodation for a fixed period over any chosen route. Such was his success that the Scottish railway companies withdrew their support between 1862 and 1863 to try the excursion business for themselves. Cruising is a popular form of water tourism. Leisure cruise ships were introduced by the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1844, sailing from Southampton to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens. In 1891, German businessman Albert Ballin sailed the ship Augusta Victoria from Hamburg into the Mediterranean Sea. June 29, 1900 saw the launching of the first purpose-built cruise ship was Prinzessin Victoria Luise, built in Hamburg for the Hamburg America Line. Modern day tourismEdit Many leisure-oriented tourists travel to seaside resorts on their nearest coast or further afield. Coastal areas in the tropics are popular in both summer and winter. Academics have defined mass tourism as travel by groups on pre-scheduled tours, usually under the organization of tourism professionals. This form of tourism developed during the second half of the 19th century in the United Kingdom and was pioneered by Thomas Cook. Cook took advantage of Europe's rapidly expanding railway network and established a company that offered affordable day trip excursions to the masses, in addition to longer holidays to Continental Europe, India, Asia and the Western Hemisphere which attracted wealthier customers. By the 1890s over 20,000 tourists per year used Thomas Cook & Son. The relationship between tourism companies, transportation operators and hotels is a central feature of mass tourism. Cook was able to offer prices that were below the publicly advertised price because his company purchased large numbers of tickets from railroads. One contemporary form of mass tourism, package tourism, still incorporates the partnership between these three groups. Travel developed during the early 20th century and was facilitated by the development of the automobiles and later by airplanes. Improvements in transport allowed many people to travel quickly to places of leisure interest, so that more people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time. In Continental Europe, early seaside resorts included: Heiligendamm, founded in 1793 at the Baltic Sea, being the first seaside resort; Ostend, popularised by the people of Brussels; Boulogne-sur-Mer and Deauville for the Parisians; Taormina in Sicily. In the United States, the first seaside resorts in the European style were at Atlantic City, New Jersey and Long Island, New York. By the mid-20th century the Mediterranean Coast became the principal mass tourism destination. The 1960s and 1970s saw mass tourism play a major role in the Spanish economic "miracle". Niche tourism refers to the numerous specialty forms of tourism that have emerged over the years, each with its own adjective. Many of these terms have come into common use by the tourism industry and academics. Others are emerging concepts that may or may not gain popular usage. Examples of the more common niche tourism markets are: - Birth tourism - Culinary tourism - Cultural tourism - Dark tourism (also called "black tourism" or "grief tourism") - Eco tourism - Extreme tourism - Heritage tourism - LGBT tourism - Medical tourism - Film tourism - Nautical tourism - Pop-culture tourism - Religious tourism - Sex tourism - Slum tourism - Sports tourism - Textile tourism - Virtual tourism - War tourism - Wellness tourism - Wildlife tourism St. Moritz, Switzerland became the cradle of the developing winter tourism in the 1860s: hotel manager Johannes Badrutt invited some summer guests from England to return in the winter to see the snowy landscape, thereby inaugurating a popular trend. It was, however, only in the 1970s when winter tourism took over the lead from summer tourism in many of the Swiss ski resorts. Even in winter, up to one third of all guests (depending on the location) consist of non-skiers. Major ski resorts are located mostly in the various European countries (e.g. Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey), Canada, the United States (e.g. Montana, Utah, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York) Argentina, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Chile, and Lebanon. Some places that already have ski opportunities can also have glaciers in the area. Some of these places that already offer a glacier hike to see these glaciers. One of these places is New Zealand; New Zealand has several glaciers that are available for this experience. The Franz Josef is one of these glaciers that tourism is available. The only way to get to the glacier is via a helicopter. Before helicopters were invented, the way that people were able to get up to the glacier was by hiking up to the glacier. The companies have to make sure that people are safe when they are on the glacier. This would fall under environmental tourism as well as winter tourism. Visits to New Zealand require an eTA from 1 October 2019 which is available online. There has been an up-trend in tourism over the last few decades,[vague] especially in Europe, where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have a wide range of budgets and tastes, and a wide variety of resorts and hotels have developed to cater for them. For example, some people prefer simple beach vacations, while others want more specialised holidays, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays, or niche market-targeted destination hotels. The developments in air transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines, and more accessible airports have made many types of tourism more affordable. The WHO estimated in 2009 that there are around half a million people on board aircraft at any given time. There have also been changes in lifestyle, for example some retirement-age people sustain year round tourism. This is facilitated by internet sales of tourist services. Some sites have now started to offer dynamic packaging, in which an inclusive price is quoted for a tailor-made package requested by the customer upon impulse. There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations, such as in Bali and several European cities. Also, on 26 December 2004, a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, hit the Asian countries on the Indian Ocean, including the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost including many tourists. This, together with the vast clean-up operations, stopped or severely hampered tourism in the area for a time. Individual low-price or even zero-price overnight stays have become more popular in the 2000s, especially with a strong growth in the hostel market and services like CouchSurfing and airbnb being established. There has also been examples of jurisdictions wherein a significant portion of GDP is being spent on altering the primary sources of revenue towards tourism, as has occurred for instance in Dubai. "Sustainable tourism is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems." (World Tourism Organization) Sustainable development implies "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) An important part of sustainable tourism is something known as the three pillars of sustainability which include Economic, Environmental/Ecological and Socio-cultural. For a destination to be truly sustainable it must have an equal balance among the three pillars. Economic is in relation to money and making and maintaining a certain amount of cash. Environmental is of course in relation to the environment it looks into whether the local ecosystems can support the influx of visitors and also how these visitors effect the ecosystem. Then finally Socio-cultural is about how well the culture of this area is able to maintain its traditions with the incoming tourists. These pillars are important because they are the true key to being sustainable when discussing tourism. Sustainable tourism can be seen as having regard to ecological and social-cultural carrying capacities and includes involving the community of the destination in tourism development planning (that was done e.g. in Fruška Gora National Park in Serbia). It also involves integrating tourism to match current economic and growth policies so as to mitigate some of the negative economic and social impacts of 'mass tourism'. Murphy (1985) advocates the use of an 'ecological approach', to consider both 'plants' and 'people' when implementing the sustainable tourism development process. This is in contrast to the 'boosterism' and 'economic' approaches to tourism planning, neither of which consider the detrimental ecological or sociological impacts of tourism development to a destination. However, Butler questions the exposition of the term 'sustainable' in the context of tourism, citing its ambiguity and stating that "the emerging sustainable development philosophy of the 1990s can be viewed as an extension of the broader realization that a preoccupation with economic growth without regard to its social and environmental consequences is self-defeating in the long term." Thus 'sustainable tourism development' is seldom considered as an autonomous function of economic regeneration as separate from general economic growth. Textile tourism refers to people traveling to experience the places related to textile, and are provided knowledge on different fabrics, process, practice of weaving and to know about the technicalities involved the weaving and rural handicraft of handloom, it involve traveling to experience the historical places of textile like Jaipur, Mysore, Varanasi, Kancheepuram & so on. Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low-impact and (often) small-scale. It helps educate the traveler; provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities; and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.Take only memories and leave only footprints is a very common slogan in protected areas. Tourist destinations are shifting to low carbon emissions following the trend of visitors more focused in being environmentally responsible adopting a sustainable behavior. The movie tourism is a form of tourism for those who visit the film and television locations, i.e. the places used for filming a film or a television series. In addition to organized tours (and not) to film locations lately has widened the tendency to a type of tourism, linked to the cinema, which relates to events, conventions and more like the case of the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico. Dizionario del Turismo CinematograficoEdit The Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico is an artistic costume movement originally born as a journalistic column on various online and paper publications officially in 2012 (with a genesis formed in the previous decade) but, in the following years, it has become a real costume fashion popularized in sites, associations, institutions, municipal administrations, political parties, movements and television listings all over the world. It also includes Museums and Sports Groups linked to its brand. The purpose of the work is varied: from the redevelopment of territorial areas thanks to the artistic interest raised to be film and fiction locations (Movie tourism) to promote events linked to the Cinema as film anniversaries, festivals, parties to theme (Toga Party, Monster Party, Cosplay Party, Hollywood Party, Pajamas Party, etc.), manifestations born in films or that the cinema has helped to divulge (though already existing) as, for example, the Demolition Derby, village festivals disseminated by the Cinema (such as those appearing in the Mondo Cane film series, etc.). We wanted to differentiate from Movie Tourism (a fashion that has existed for several decades) to be more varied and not limited to tourism (that is a part of the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico). In the mid-2000s, the student of video advertising and journalistic communications at the Turin branch of the Fellini Institute Davide Lingua (called Dave Lingua), of Verolengo, obsessed with customary phenomena, has in mind to create a totally new object to redevelop areas territories hit by the crisis but fun and that leads to fashion accessible to all. This is the genesis for the creation of the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico. A few years later (between 2010, the beginning of the collaboration, and 2012) creates with this name a column (which initially deals with Cine tourism, Cinema Museums and Costume Party with a cinematic theme) within the site (in that period related to the homonymous paper magazine) of the Milan group Mondadori filmtv.it which soon became the most popular of the magazine with a myriad of collaborators. In the following period the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico appears as a column in various newspapers and magazines (the Netweek group, La Voce, is mentioned in La Stampa and many other newspapers) and officially appears as a cultural movement that gives full freedom to all to join simply using the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico (respecting however the topics of interest of the movement) coming to create totally independent sections (but always within legally registered bodies or associations), with their own statutes and directives but with only provided that the official founder (helped at the beginning by the first members) Davide Lingua is recognized as Permanent Director for life (in fact director and not president because he wants to underline the journalistic origin of the project). From its birth until today the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico is a worldwide journalistic column, television broadcasting, has sections in many associations, institutions that collaborate with municipal administrations, has dealt with the official celebrations of film shooting anniversaries (for example Salasco of the film Bitter Rice), appears in the credits of many films for the collaboration given, organizes communication courses, cultural and sporting events, etc. ... Volunteer tourism (or voluntourism) is growing as a largely Western phenomenon, with volunteers travelling to aid those less fortunate than themselves in order to counter global inequalities. Wearing (2001) defines volunteer tourism as applying "to those tourists who, for various reasons, volunteer in an organised way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society". VSO was founded in the UK in 1958 and the US Peace Corps was subsequently founded in 1960. These were the first large scale voluntary sending organisations, initially arising to modernise less economically developed countries, which it was hoped would curb the influence of communism. This form of tourism is largely praised for its more sustainable approach to travel, with tourists attempting to assimilate into local cultures, and avoiding the criticisms of consumptive and exploitative mass tourism. However, increasingly voluntourism is being criticised by scholars who suggest it may have negative effects as it begins to undermine local labour, and force unwilling host communities to adopt Western initiatives, while host communities without a strong heritage fail to retain volunteers who become dissatisfied with experiences and volunteer shortages persist. Increasingly organisations such as VSO have been concerned with community-centric volunteer programmes where power to control the future of the community is in the hands of local people. Pro-poor tourism, which seeks to help the poorest people in developing countries, has been receiving increasing attention by those involved in development; the issue has been addressed through small-scale projects in local communities and through attempts by Ministries of Tourism to attract large numbers of tourists. Research by the Overseas Development Institute suggests that neither is the best way to encourage tourists' money to reach the poorest as only 25% or less (far less in some cases) ever reaches the poor; successful examples of money reaching the poor include mountain-climbing in Tanzania and cultural tourism in Luang Prabang, Laos. There is also the possibility of pro-poor tourism principles being adopted in centre sites of regeneration in the developed world. Recession tourism is a travel trend which evolved by way of the world economic crisis. Recession tourism is defined by low-cost and high-value experiences taking place of once-popular generic retreats. Various recession tourism hotspots have seen business boom during the recession thanks to comparatively low costs of living and a slow world job market suggesting travelers are elongating trips where their money travels further. This concept is not widely used in tourism research. It is related to the short-lived phenomenon that is more widely known as staycation. When there is a significant price difference between countries for a given medical procedure, particularly in Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Cuba and Canada where there are different regulatory regimes, in relation to particular medical procedures (e.g. dentistry), traveling to take advantage of the price or regulatory differences is often referred to as "medical tourism". This section does not cite any sources. (September 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Educational tourism is developed because of the growing popularity of teaching and learning of knowledge and the enhancing of technical competency outside of classroom environment. In educational tourism, the main focus of the tour or leisure activity includes visiting another country to learn about the culture, study tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different environment, such as in the International Practicum Training Program. This type of tourism is focused tourists coming into a region to either participate in an event or to see an organized event put on by the city/region. This type of tourism can also fall under sustainable tourism as well and companies that create a sustainable event to attend open up a chance to not only the consumer but their workers to learn and develop from the experience. Creating a sustainable atmosphere it creates a chance to inform and encourage sustainable practices. An example of event tourism would be the music festival South by Southwest that is hosted in Austin, Texas annually. This is a perfect example because very year people from all over the world flock to this one city for one week to sit in on technology talks and see a whole city of bands perform. These people are being drawn here to experience something that they are not able to experience in their hometown which is exactly what event tourism is about. Creative tourism has existed as a form of cultural tourism, since the early beginnings of tourism itself. Its European roots date back to the time of the Grand Tour, which saw the sons of aristocratic families traveling for the purpose of mostly interactive, educational experiences. More recently, creative tourism has been given its own name by Crispin Raymond and Greg Richards, who as members of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS), have directed a number of projects for the European Commission, including cultural and crafts tourism, known as sustainable tourism. They have defined "creative tourism" as tourism related to the active participation of travellers in the culture of the host community, through interactive workshops and informal learning experiences. Meanwhile, the concept of creative tourism has been picked up by high-profile organizations such as UNESCO, who through the Creative Cities Network, have endorsed creative tourism as an engaged, authentic experience that promotes an active understanding of the specific cultural features of a place. More recently, creative tourism has gained popularity as a form of cultural tourism, drawing on active participation by travelers in the culture of the host communities they visit. Several countries offer examples of this type of tourism development, including the United Kingdom, Austria, France, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Spain, Italy, New Zealand and South Korea. The growing interest of tourists in this new way to discover a culture regards particularly the operators and branding managers, attentive to the possibility of attracting a quality tourism, highlighting the intangible heritage (craft workshops, cooking classes, etc.) and optimizing the use of existing infrastructure (for example, through the rent of halls and auditorium). Experiential travel (or "immersion travel") is one of the major market trends in the modern tourism industry. It is an approach to travelling which focuses on experiencing a country, city or particular place by connecting to its history, people, food and culture. The term "experiential travel" has been mentioned in publications since 1985, but it wasn't discovered as a meaningful market trend until much later. One emerging area of special interest has been identified by Lennon and Foley (2000) as "dark" tourism. This type of tourism involves visits to "dark" sites, such as battlegrounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide, for example concentration camps. Its origins are rooted in fairgrounds and medieval fairs. Philip Stone argues that dark tourism is a way of imagining one's own death through the real death of others. Erik H Cohen introduces the term "populo sites" to evidence the educational character of dark tourism. Populo sites transmit the story of victimized people to visitors. Based on a study at Yad Vashem, the Shoah (Holocaust) memorial museum in Jerusalem, a new term—in populo—is proposed to describe dark tourism sites at a spiritual and population center of the people to whom a tragedy befell. Learning about the Shoah in Jerusalem offers an encounter with the subject which is different from visits to sites in Europe, but equally authentic. It is argued that a dichotomy between "authentic" sites at the location of a tragedy and "created" sites elsewhere is insufficient. Participants' evaluations of seminars for European teachers at Yad Vashem indicate that the location is an important aspect of a meaningful encounter with the subject. Implications for other cases of dark tourism at in populo locations are discussed. In this vein, Peter Tarlow defines dark tourism as the tendency to visit the scenes of tragedies or historically noteworthy deaths, which continue to impact our lives. This issue cannot be understood without the figure of trauma. Social tourism is making tourism available to poor people who otherwise could not afford to travel for their education or recreation. It includes youth hostels and low-priced holiday accommodation run by church and voluntary organisations, trade unions, or in Communist times publicly owned enterprises. In May 1959, at the second Congress of Social Tourism in Austria, Walter Hunziker proposed the following definition: "Social tourism is a type of tourism practiced by low income groups, and which is rendered possible and facilitated by entirely separate and therefore easily recognizable services". Also known as "Tourism of Doom," or "Last Chance Tourism" this emerging trend involves traveling to places that are environmentally or otherwise threatened (such as the ice caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, the melting glaciers of Patagonia, or the coral of the Great Barrier Reef) before it is too late. Identified by travel trade magazine Travel Age West editor-in-chief Kenneth Shapiro in 2007 and later explored in The New York Times, this type of tourism is believed to be on the rise. Some see the trend as related to sustainable tourism or ecotourism due to the fact that a number of these tourist destinations are considered threatened by environmental factors such as global warming, overpopulation or climate change. Others worry that travel to many of these threatened locations increases an individual's carbon footprint and only hastens problems threatened locations are already facing. Religious tourism, in particular pilgrimage, can serve to strengthen faith and to demonstrate devotion - both of which are central tenets of many major religions.[need quotation to verify] Religious tourists may seek destinations whose image encourages them to believe that they can strengthen the religious elements of their self-identity in a positive manner. Given this, the perceived image of a destination may be positively influenced by whether it conforms to the requirements of their religious self-identity or not. Excessive hordes of visitors - or of the wrong sort of visitors - can provoke backlashes from otherwise friendly hosts in popular destinations. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4%. With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products have become one of the most traded items on the internet. Tourism products and services have been made available through intermediaries, although tourism providers (hotels, airlines, etc.), including small-scale operators, can sell their services directly. This has put pressure on intermediaries from both on-line and traditional shops. It has been suggested there is a strong correlation between tourism expenditure per capita and the degree to which countries play in the global context. Not only as a result of the important economic contribution of the tourism industry, but also as an indicator of the degree of confidence with which global citizens leverage the resources of the globe for the benefit of their local economies. This is why any projections of growth in tourism may serve as an indication of the relative influence that each country will exercise in the future. There has been a limited amount of orbital space tourism, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport to date. A 2010 report into space tourism anticipated that it could become a billion-dollar market by 2030. This section does not cite any sources. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Since the late 1980s, sports tourism has become increasingly popular. Events such as rugby, Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and FIFA World Cups have enabled specialist travel companies to gain official ticket allocation and then sell them in packages that include flights, hotels and excursions. As a result of the late-2000s recession, international arrivals suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Growth from 2007 to 2008 was only 3.7% during the first eight months of 2008. This slowdown on international tourism demand was also reflected in the air transport industry, with a negative growth in September 2008 and a 3.3% growth in passenger traffic through September. The hotel industry also reported a slowdown, with room occupancy declining. In 2009 worldwide tourism arrivals decreased by 3.8%. By the first quarter of 2009, real travel demand in the United States had fallen 6% over six quarters. While this is considerably milder than what occurred after the 9/11 attacks, the decline was at twice the rate as real GDP has fallen. 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Philip Palmer is the author of five ‘new pulp’ science fiction novels published by Orbit books: Debatable Space, Red Claw, Version 43, Hell Ship and Artemis . He is also an experienced screenwriter and radio dramatist, and his previous work ranges from historical (The King’s Coiner) to contemporary political (Breaking Point, Blame, Red and Blue) to epic literary fantasy (his adpatation of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. For TV he’s written the single film The Many Lives of Albert Walker, as well as TV series episodes of Rebus, Heartbeat and The Bill. His movie credits include Arritmia. Tell me one little-known fact about Philip Palmer. London Zoo launched my career as a writer. That’s a little known fact. It happened when I was fresh out of University trying to write the Great Welsh Novel. That got me nowhere and I was broke, so I went to the Job Centre and took the only job available, as a cleaner of lavatories at London Zoo. There were four loos in all; my beat included the Giraffes’ Toilet and the Eagles’ Toilet (named after the animals they were NEXT to.) One of my tasks was breaking up the soap into tiny chunks so the general public wouldn’t use them all up at once. It was a dull job, long hours of sitting in my office (!) while the general public trod their dirty feet on my nice clean floor. Perfect place to write! So I wrote a comedy script called Alistair, sent it to the BBC; they offered me a job at the BBC Script Unit as a reader; and my career as a script editor/script reader and eventually television screenwriter was launched. Alistair never got made; no idea where the script is now. I miss the Zoo…there was a snowy owl there that I was particularly fond of. Tell me about working for the BBC. Imagine a corridor lined with scripts.. a paper snake running out of the door, down the corridor, into the next corridor…that was the BBC Script Unit when I worked for them. They received I think 13,000 scripts a year, almost all (but crucially NOT all) of them shite. Essentially, the job of the Script Unit was to manage the slush pile…so that every single script sent to the BBC was given a thorough reader’s report and response. A few, the specks of gold, were forwarded on to the main BBC and a few careers were launched that way. And the Script Unit’s policy was to employ unemployed but talented writers for 3 month attachments, not as cheap labour but idealistically to give new writers a grounding in the industry. Apart from Habitat and London Zoo, this was my first job after leaving University. I thought I’d hate it. Reading other people’s scripts! What could be more awful for a self-obsessed and solipsistic writer (as we all are). And yet, I fell in love with reading immediately. Five to eight scripts a day, on a good day. I learned about bad writing, I learned about good writing. One writer had submitted 100 scripts over 20 years and had a file larger than a George R.R. Martin novel. As a result of this job, I became a hyphenate – a writer-script editor/reader. Which is what I’ve done ever since. After leaving the BBC, I took on reading jobs at various theatres including the Hampstead and the Tricycle, and for five years or so I was a script reader for film producers, including David Puttnam. I now work a great deal with BBC Radio, which is the last bastion of BBC-ness. Tremendous commitment and esprit de corps, and a genuine public service ethos. I was in the recording studio at Broadcasting House for 6 days last week… pure joy. I LOVE the BBC. Tell me about the difference between the camaraderie of BBC radio and the solitary pursuit of writing books. There’s a wonderful line in a Stephen King novel, it must be Misery, in which a novelist explains that novelists always dedicate their books to other people in order to conceal their own appalling selfishness. Tragically true! The joy of writing a novel is that you inhabit your own universe, you populate it with people, you get lost in adventures of your own creation; the downside of it is you don’t get to go out much. Working in drama though means being part of a team. And in radio – which is up there with theatre as one of the most collaborative of mediums – you get to experience and share the camaraderie and sheer professionalism of the people who turn pages into drama. Radio dramas are made by a small team of studio folk who exude quiet professionalism and wry humour. I’ve made good friends with a number of studio managers over the years, and on my last production – because it was a 3 ep recording – there was virtually a relay team of studio managers coming in to perform the different roles – panel (the main studio manager), grams (sound effects) and spot (sound effects). I wasn’t so much one of the team, as the only constant factor in the team….And the director-writer relationship in radio is a special one. (Radio directors also produce their own shows, so there’s no middle man/woman to get in the way of that key creative relationship.) I also love the company of actors. Actors are by definition ‘people persons’; with huge emotional intelligence and charm-control, and hence are good to be around. Funny, professional, usually though not always great raconteurs, and courteous in the extreme. Actors have to be skilled at getting their way without seeming to be getting their way. It’s, ‘I wonder if I might try this’. Rather than: ‘For Christ’s sake that’s a STUPID idea.’ On my last show we had Bill Paterson the great Scottish actor in a two hander with Tim Woodward, a superb English thespian, son of the wonderful Edward (‘Callan’) Woodward. Each was brilliant; but I was also awed at how each helped the other. Supporting; encouraging; bantering. It’s part of the skill of the actor; making the other actors look good. For that reason, readthroughs are the highlights of my year. I stop being god of my own multiple universes (sad! pathetic! deranged!) and become a valued member of a team. (Actually much saner.) TV is less fun. I did a TV show that was shot in Yorkshire and asked if I could come to the readthrough, and was greeted with a stunned silence. So I never got to go the set; I never met the actors; I just wrote the script and saw it on the telly. Which is fine, but not exactly creatively fulfilling. My claim to fame: I once met the legendary RSC and Harry Potter actor Richard Griffiths in a strip club. Now that IS sad! But actually, it was a fake strip club in Portsmouth, in an alley rigged up to look like a Soho street; and Richard was doing a cameo in a series called Perfect Scoundrels, on which I worked. Daft, but delightful. Voice acting for radio must require quite a different skill set to that of the film/tv actor. Are there actors who came up through radio – not comedians/personalities – and are there well-known actors (to the great unwashed) you have worked with in radio? There is an amazing institution called the Radio Drama Rep Company – full time radio actors who live in Broadcasting House (well, not literally) and who act in any production that happens to be on in the studio that day, and even do documentary voiceovers too. Sometimes these are unknowns, sometimes they’re very well known indeed. I did one play with Carolyn Pickles, who was in the Rep at the time but had previously been DCI Reid in The Bill. The last show I did had Don Gilet – star of Eastenders and 55 Degrees North – in the Rep company, giving 2 wonderful performances as 2 totally different characters in 2 different plays. I don’t think there are many actors who start in radio – it’s more a place where actors at every stage gravitate. The pay is modest but it’s fast and actors are treated well. Though I did once meet a scary Voiceover Person, a puny looking guy who gave the end credits voiceover in a big booming voice. And I’m pretty sure that’s all he ever did… Simon Russell Beale is one of the greatest stage actors of our time, and he does a huge amount of radio. He was Smiley in the radio version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and he was Narrator 1/King Arthur in my adaptation of Spenser’s Faerie Queene. David Oyelowe from Spooks was in the same production, as was Holly Aird from Waking the Dead. Caroline Catz – Doc Marten star – has been in 2 of my plays. And I was thrilled to work with one of my heroes, Nicholas Farrell – remember Chariots of Fire? – in a drama about a musical prodigy in which he played the music teacher. He even sang. The only time my daughter (now 16) has ever been impressed by anything I’ve ever done was when I was working with Don Gilet last week – she’s a big East Enders fan. Bill Paterson means nothing to her; Lucas from Eastenders, now that’s a different ball game. I hope you’ll excuse me for concentrating on the radio/film work but it’s just so different from the experience of most of the writers I’m talking to, so next… Tell me about your film work on Arritimia. That was a writer for hire job. I was recommended by a film producer friend to a Japanese producer who wanted a script editor for a project set in Cuba, written by a Portuguese writer and actress, and we met in Paris to discuss how to proceed. Talk about an international project! Rather to my surprise, the script editing job turned into a ‘script doctor’ job which meant I was expected to write actual scenes of the script, in tandem with the Portuguese writer. I did a similar job on a rather well made Greek movie a while back; I wrote at least 25% of the script but I’m only credited as ‘script editor’. Which is great; that’s the Hollywood hack approach and I was happy to be one. Then, on Arritmia, the Portuguese director left the project and I became sole writer, eventually sharing a writing credit with the Spanish director, who was also a writer. I loved the experience, and the producers are still great friends. And I love the whole ‘writer for hire’ thing; it’s the challenge of it, creating something good and solving story problems, without feeling too personally involved. Of course, most of all I like writing my own original projects – whether they are novels, radio dramas or movies – but it’s nice sometimes to be ‘just’ a gun for hire. You categorise your novels as new pulp. Can you define/explain the label? Well I love pulp, from the Golden Age. The pace, the energy, the colour, the sheer zaniness. SF pulp, detective pulp, fantasy pulp esp Robert E. Howard, it’s all v. exciting for me, and has a raw originality that can’t be beat. What I do is pulp with Palmer….not comedic but a little bit tongue in cheek. And with ‘stock’ pulp characters who sometimes prove to have hidden depths. I have squids in space (in Hell Ship) but I know how silly I’m being and I expect the reader to enjoy that silliness; and the squid in question proves to have a very complex character and backstory. I do a version of the old ‘settling a hostile alien planet’ cliche, but I include footnotes with alien taxonomy (Red Claw). Debatable Space is an old fashioned space opera with massive space battles; but with alternating sections of a woman telling her life story. It’s the Collision of Brows – high and low – that I find very appealing. Neo-pulp sounds pretentious; so I like to call it ‘new pulp’. Have you any thoughts on the new John Carter film? (This question was posed before the film came out.) I’m desperate to see it. I adore the John Carter – Burroughs doesn’t have the prose style of Robert E. Howard but his ideas are stunning, verging on magic realist. I saw the recent Traci Lords version of Princess of Mars which I enjoyed despite the bad acting. Have high hopes of this new version. Are you a film fan in general? Oh I love film. And my life has been transformed since I started watching movies on my big screen computer – now I can pretend to be working, while in fact I’m sneakily watching movies. I also teach screenwriting and that gives me a chance to screen favourite films to an audience of 20 somethings who’ve never seen them before. I screened The Apartment recently and the students were awestruck at the wit, the pathos, and the sheer brilliance of the writing. Body Heat too – one of my all time favourite films – was a hit. As well as writing novels I have my own film production company with 3 projects on the slate. Like all film producers, I spend my days pushing boulders up a hill, and at times I wonder why I bother; but then I remember why. I love film! I’ve got more novels to write than a lifetime can accommodate, I’m doing a huge amount of radio drama which gives me a chance to write drama and connect with actors. But I love film and my dream is to get my own Welsh version of Body Heat (a film noir called Inferno) made one day soon. Ah well – might not happen, but no one can ever say I didn’t try! Film is a dirty business though; it’s only the stuff that appears on screen that’s magical. Favourite movies: The Godfather, a masterpiece of storytelling. The Leopard, an elegant saga by the greatest of film-makers, Visconti. Robocop, because it makes me laugh. Some Like it Hot and The Apartment, both written (or rather cowritten) by the most neglected great screenwriter of all time, I.A.L. Diamond. Angels with Dirty Faces, and indeed, every other film with the younger Jimmy Cagney in. More recently, Let the Right One In and A Prophet and The Secret in Their Eyes – genre films of wonderful richness. Yup, it’s a passion, along with SF; and it always amazes me I actually make a living writing science fiction AND watching movies. If you were offered the opportunity to remake any movie of your choice – because it wasn’t as brill as it could be or because it deserves to be updated or any other reason – what would it be and why? Saw the question from you which read, ‘if you could remake any move of your choice’ (now corrected above – Bob) and almost launched into a HUGE psychodrama. But then realised it should have been ‘movie’. Ah. I would love to remake the Wolverine movie – and make it a story of Storm and Wolverine, in love and with the world against them. I think Halle Berry is the most woefully underused and undervalued actress around – and the mythic connection of Earth Goddess and Feral Animal is utterly cinematic. But just the two of them without those armies of superheroes cluttering the screen allows for such genuine character development. For me, most of the X Men movies look like bus queues; you just can’t have that many characters in a movie. That’s what TV series are for…and that’s why the early series of Heroes were so good. I refused to see the latest Conan movie, after seeing the dire reviews. And though I love the Schwarzegger Barbarian version, it does look very hammy now. I’d love to make a movie about Conan and the pirate queen Belit, based on the story Queen of the Black Coast. It’s a great relationship story – and shows Conan truly in love. It should be spare, beautiful, remorseless. It doesn’t need endless violence; the landscapes and the seascapes are epic enough. Karyn Kusama did a movie called Girlfight, which had the exact same premise as a story I was developing – ie female boxing. Her version’s pretty good, but I’d love to take my own crack at it. I have a very bad habit of script editing movies when I watch them – if only they had moved this scene here, or added that scene here. Great movies should not be remade, just rented; when I was working in TV on a show with East Enders star Leslie Grantham, he appeared in the West End in a stage remake of Casablanca, playing of course the Humphrey Bogart role. Dirty Den as Rick? Oh per-lease! My subconscious – which types really badly – asks great questions by inserting caps (emphasizing a non-existent sub-text) or leaving out letters. The one you didn’t answer is a much better question. So, if you were given a life Mulligan (a golf term – something you could have a second crack at) is there one you could share? My subconscious wrote cold instead of could. When I left University my girlfriend and I were planning to go and teach English as a second language in Greece and started making applications. Then she got a Proper Job and we decided to hold fire on the living abroad thing. I was a wastrel writer, she brought in the money that kept us afloat. It made sense. A few years later she gave up the Proper Job and became – like me – a freelance writer and script editor, and is doing very well indeed and is in fact now my wife. So it wasn’t a case of the two of us giving up adventure to slave away at dull routine jobs – neither of us do that. We both do our dream jobs. But the idea of living abroad – learning another language – being immersed in a whole new culture – I do wish I’d actually experienced that. I’d be the same person, but a bit Greeker, and perhaps even a bit wiser. I sometimes wonder if I should still do that one day – maybe when my daughter is at University. Live in Florence say, learn the language properly, study the art of gesticulation, be part of a different world. Trouble is, I love London…so maybe Italy and Greece will always be just holiday destinations for me. Other Mulligans (a term I’d never heard before…) – I wish I’d started writing SF novels in my 20s, instead of going into drama for so many years, before becoming an SF novelist a mere 5 years ago. But if I’d done that, I’d almost certainly wish I’d written drama as a young man, instead of writing SF all my life. Grass always greener eh! Tell me about how you got into novels from your drama background. The UK Film Council had a competition called 24 Words or Less for high concept movie ideas. I pitched an SF story, inspired by the Faerie Queene, a Spenser poem which I’d previously adapted for radio. I didn’t win! The idea lingered. I started making notes. The notes became sentences. The sentences grew. At some point I thought I should write this as a novel and I did, in weekends and on holidays, whilst still plying my trade as a script writer and script editor. After I’d written fifty thousand words, I remembered that MY CHILDHOOD DREAM WAS TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS. And now, I was doing just that. Selling it was tough because all my contacts were in the world of drama. So I googled SF agents and found John Jarrold’s name lurking on the internet. I sent it to him; he read it and took me on; and I was sitting with two pals in Patisserie Valerie in Soho plotting how to get our movie made when the phone rang and John told me he’d been offered a three book deal with Orbit. Damn. Good moment. I was eating a coffee eclair at the time. The perfect concatenation of good things. Now, I’m still writing drama but I’m on my sixth book, and I love that I can switch between those two worlds. How much relation to the published book did that fifty thousand words you sent John Jarrold bear? I didn’t send to John till I’d completed the whole book…and I only got 2 or 3 notes from Orbit. A fluke! I’ve done a lot more rewriting on the other books. How long did it take to write the first book and has that time changed on later books? I can write a radio play in a week. A movie in 2 weeks. A novel in – hell, I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out. I wrote Debatable Space over, I think, about 18 months. Very much part time, I remember writing whole chapters on holiday in Italy and it didn’t feel like work. I came back as white as chalk and absolutely happy. My second novel Ketos was an epic and it’s STILL not finished. I realised it was taking too long, and Orbit kindly allowed me to switch novels. That’s how I wrote Red Claw, an oldfashioned pulp thriller with a quirky high concept, in about 8 months. Very much in my territory as a writer. Version 43 was done on the one book in a year deal, which publishers prefer. And that’s quite achievable. It’s about 4-5 months for a first draft, 6 month revising. If I wrote novels full time I could probably halve that. But Orbit were so excited about my next 2 ideas they commissioned both at once and put a tight deadline – 2 novels in 10 months. That was Hell Ship and Artemis. Hell Ship was a NIGHTMARE to complete in that time frame, because it’s a huge epic with multiple universes. And I did hit the deadline but spent a week afterwards catching up on sleep . And Artemis is much more in the Red Claw pulp tradition – fast moving plot with kick-ass characters, which I also wrote in 5 months. I love Artemis – it finishes stories I started in Debatable Space, and 4 of my books to date – excluding Hell Ship – offer a portrait of various facets of the future world described by Lena, in Debatable Space. It’s part of the essence of pulp that you write them fast. But to be honest, though I’m a very fast screenwriter, there are novelists out there who are MUCH faster than me. Awesome. I’m now writing a monster book – about monsters AND much longer than the other books – and I’m loving it. It will probably take about a year from start to finish, but if I feel I need to take 2 years to write it, damn it I will. I’ve no idea how Peter Hamilton writes those huge (and wonderful) books of his on such a tight timeframe. Each one is as long as 3 normal books. So, Phil, in a perfect world, would you still be multi-tasking or would you have picked one area to specialize in and would it be something you are already doing or something totally new? I think I am at heart a moaner. If I’m busy, I moan about how I’d like things to be quieter. If things are quiet – hell! why aren’t they busy! So although I sometimes think it would be nice to do fewer things, there’s nothing I’d really want to give up. I teach part-time to earn money; but I love it and it keeps me fresh. I write radio and I work on movies. Every time someone asks me to write a short story, I say yes, of course! I like the adrenalin of it all. So in reality, I think this is me pretty much shorted; my grass couldn’t be greener. I’d love to be the kind of person who could live in the country and go for leisurely walks and grow flowers in the garden, and write one novel a year and nothing else – but it’s just not me. Hate gardening. Love being busy. No gardening, but outside of your multi-tasked whirl, what do you do with your leisure time? Boxing, oddly enough. Not watching it, just working out in the boxing gym round the corner from me, run by former world champion Duke McKenzie. It’s my form of keep fit and there’s a great buzz there, and a camaraderie in the gym. Do lager and red wine count as a leisure activity? All my hobbies count as ‘work’; reading books, watching telly, going to the cinema. But they are still genuine hobbies. Second hand bookshops are a particular joy. I think my best way of relaxing is to go out for the day to a park; or go away for the weekend to somewhere nice where there’s ambience and scenery and, um, a certain amount of lager and red wine. I listen a lot to music on the iPod – though it’s been ages since I last went to a gig. That’s something I’d like to find more time for. I used to run a column on my blog called SF Song of the Week, and that was a great way of exploring other people’s musical tastes. Found some great new bands and singers that way. Graphic novels; I don’t write ‘em, so that’s pure pleasure. I love buildings too; looking at cathedrals or churches, or even just ordinary streets. The spirit of place means a lot to me. Give me a brief soundtrack to the life of Philip Palmer. Maybe to be released as a CD slipped into the back of your biography. Something by Carlos Santana has to be the title track of this CD – the one that’s slipped into the back of my biography…I’ve loved his music since I was a teeanger and I loved the way he reinvented himself with albums like Supernatural. Songs like Samba Pa Ti, She’s Not There, Maria Maria. Primavera. I remember running at dawn along the Mumbles penninsula coastal road with El Farol playing on my iPod. Shaggy is another passion of mine – crazy funny filthy stuff. Probably ‘Hope’ is my favourite. I also have a soft spot for Goldie Looking Chain, the Welsh rappers, like, mun. (Top choice, Your Missus is a Nutter). Tom Jones is a secret love of mine, but I was able to go public when he did his album of gospel songs – Hell Below is a stunner. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley is an all time favourite. And I have a shameful fondness for Beyonce. I used a Destiny’s Child song (Independent Women) in one of my radio dramas – sung by Nicholas Farrell, of Chariot’s Fire fame. Gill Scott Heron’s The Bottle is a prose poem of genius, and man he can really sing. My teen years were dominated by prog rock – bands like Yes and Genesis – who fell out of fashion and then fell back again. Ian Whates and Mike Carey revealed themselves to be prog rock fans in my SFF Song of the Week slot. Then in my twenties, I got into Broadway musicals and jazz – Gershwin, Cole Porter, and anything sung by Ella Fitzgerald (who I actually saw live in concert, with only one leg but still supreme.) Then I discovered mini-disks and compilation tapes and now most of my collection consists of themed songs, like Rock Anthems, and Naff Songs That You Love But Were Too Ashamed To Admit It. Nina Simone, Avril Lavigne, Eminem…those have been my ‘must listen’ performers of the last few years. But I’ve also rediscovered Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Joni Mitchell (after watching The Kids are All Right, where the Joni Mitchell scene is a stand out.) And so You’ve Put a Spell on Me, Sk8er Boi and Stan would definitely be included in the album of my life. Together with Rise (Gabrielle) and It’s Raining Men by the Weather Girls and Desperado by the Eagles, Papa Was a Rolling Stone by the Temptations. Oh, and Sea Lion Woman by Feist, which Nikki Peeler introduced me to. Yup, this CD is sounding good…the biography is probably going to be pretty dull though! ‘Wrote some stories’, that’s me… And I thought I had a catholic (with a little c) taste in music! Your answers have been so good that I’m going to give you a break and bring this slowly to a close. Only two questions to go… You are on death row convicted of murder (You’re innocent, I know, everyone on death row is), no late reprieve. What is your last meal? Italian flat bread as an appetiser, washed down with Peroni Grand Riserva lager. Gourmet cheese burger with parma ham (not bacon) and hand cut thick potato chips and mushy peas, and a side order of parsnips in paremsan. Followed by Banoffi Pie with chunks of Yorkie Bar inside it, and accompanied by a bottle or two of vintage Rioja. Then freshly ground coffee and a gun so I can escape, drunkenly and fatly, from my unjust incarceration. If you were an artist (musician, painter, actor, film director etc.) in a discipline other than you currently operate, and you were going to be remembered for only one piece of work (a one-hit wonder), what would that piece (song, painting, movie) be? One single existing piece of ‘art’ by someone else. Just one is hard. I’d love to have written ‘Let’s Do It’ by Cole Porter – ‘goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it’ – just that one line is pure genius. Or Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim; funny, dark, dramatic, brilliant words, wonderful music. If I were a painter, then I’d be Rembrandt; probably his self portrait in the National Gallery is the one thing to be remembered for. Sad and bitter (he went bankrupt) and soulful. Or the one of the girl looking out of the window in the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Or one of the Turners. Or a Raphael. Or the Brancusi sculpture of a fish in the Tate Modern; sleek and silver, like a spaceship. I’d love to have made that. But most of all I’d like to be Sir Christopher Wren, a great architect whose churches dominate London and whose St Paul’s Cathedral (from the outside) is about as beautiful as it gets. (Inside it’s a bit of a jumble of styles, and doesn’t really reflect his Byzantine-influenced original conception – those Thornhill murals are MUCH too sane for such a glorious space.) The building of the cathedral also reflects the guile of the artist at its best. According to the accounts I’ve read, Wren’s original design was rejected, and so he submitted a much more timid boring design which was approved by the various jobsworths who were supervising the construction. Then, within infinite cunning, he built the cathedral to a different design entirely, much closer to his original vision but perhaps even better. It took decades for anyone to notice he was ignoring the brief and the approved blueprints, and by then it was too late to stop him. Way to go! So, St Paul’s Cathedral it is…

Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange is the latest big name movie to arrive on Now TV, Sky’s contract free streaming service. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident renders his hands useless. When traditional medicine fails him, he travels to the remote Kamar-Taj in search of a cure, but instead discovers the mystical arts and becomes a powerful sorcerer battling dark forces bent on destroying our reality. Joining Cumberbatch are Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Mads Mikkelsen and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One. Now TV is available on Android and iOS tablets and mobiles, many smart TVs and various internet enabled devices such as games consoles and its own branded streaming box without a longterm contract. The service offers a fourteen day trial period and Now TV sells some great value bundles which include both a set top box and a voucher for three or six months access to its entertainment channels. These bundles offer great value compared to a standard monthly pass – Amazon are currently selling the three month Entertainment pack bundle for £18.69 and the six month bundle for £34.99. Both of those prices represent a big saving on the cost of buying a monthly pass and they include a box which usually sells for £14.99 and lets you access iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and Demand 5 plus YouTube and Spotify Even if you already have a way to watch Now TV on your big screen TV, this is a bargain way of adding it to a second or even third set in the home. And film fans can also pick up a bundle offering 4 months access to Sky Cinema for under £25 – a whopping saving on the normal price of £9.99 per month. If you already have a box and don’t want to fill your house with any more unused kit, there are also deals to be had on multi-month passes, including 5 months of entertainment channels for £25 – a £15 saving on the new £7.99 per month price.

Time For A Halloween Horror Classic! Finishing up #31daysofhalloween on a cinematic high note, with the second greatest horror film ever made. More than a great horror film, “Carrie” is a beautifully made movie, which began as a Stephen King… Read More › Ready For Some Bloody “Revenge?” There is a terrific and intensely stylized French thriller from 2017 called “Revenge”, with a star making turn by Actress Matilda Lutz! Yesterday I posted a story about my new cult film site, “Jrsploitation.com”, which… Read More › Happy Birthday Brian DePalma! “Scarface!” “Carrie!” Incredible Films Like “Blow Out” And “Phantom Of The Paradise”! Hilarious Casting Trivia With “Star Wars” Too! Happy Birthday Brian DePalma! One of cinema’s all-time greats is celebrating a birthday today, a legendary Director with an incredible body of work that continues today. Brian DePalma was born on September 11, 1940. His incredible career is marked with… Read More › RIP Johnny Hallyday, The “French Elvis!” One of the most iconic singers in France has died at the age of 74. Legendary performer Johnny Hallyday died of cancer; he had an incredible musical career, with 18 platinum albums and more… Read More › Scream Factory’s Amazing Sale! Incredible Special Edition Blu-Rays For Fans! Movie fans, do I have a deal for you! I have posted about some of the Scream Factory special edition releases before, because they LOVE cult films and are bringing… Read More › “We Can’t ALL Be Nice Girls…” Brie Larson gets down and dirty in this new action thriller! “Free Fire” Is About To Unload! “Free Fire” is a new British action-comedy film directed by Ben Wheatley, starring Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley,… Read More › New “Alien Covenant” Film Bursts Open! Five Reasons “Alien” Is The Greatest Sci-Fi Horror Film! Yes, “The Who” Is One Reason! “Alien: Covenant” Is Here! The latest in the series of outer space shockers is hitting theaters – if you haven’t seen the latest trailer, feast your eyes on it now: I can’t wait to see the new film, which clearly… Read More ›

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 is the solid sequel we always hoped (in fact assumed) it would be. The first film – already a certified modern action classic – had a perfect combination of elegant high concept (legendary assassin comes out of retirement to avenge some dipshits who killed his dog) and interesting world (a society of killers with their own rules, services and even currency). Rehashing the former would make for diminishing returns, so returning screenwriter Derek Kolstad (ONE IN THE CHAMBER, THE PACKAGE) digs deeper into the latter, showing us more about the operations and codes of the Continental Hotel and its affiliates as Wick is forced to repay a debt, getting himself into more and more trouble and testing the limits of his unkillableness. He’s still trying to retire. The movie has a sense of humor about it without undermining his sincerity. Moments after he finishes cementing his weapons back into the basement floor the doorbell rings and you think “Jesus, what now?” Well, it’s Italian gangster Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio, THE BEST OF YOUTH), who helped him escape the business and now is cashing in his favor to drag him back in. Wick would have to get into the Vatican to assassinate Santino’s sister Gianna (Claudia Gerini, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST). Throughout the movie Wick finds himself backed into corners and all he can do is keep killing his way out of them. And the more killing the more corners. (read the rest of this shit…) VERN has been reviewing movies since 1999 and is the author of the books SEAGALOGY: A STUDY OF THE ASS-KICKING FILMS OF STEVEN SEAGAL, YIPPEE KI-YAY MOVIEGOER!: WRITINGS ON BRUCE WILLIS, BADASS CINEMA AND OTHER IMPORTANT TOPICS and NIKETOWN: A NOVEL. His horror-action novel WORM ON A HOOK will arrive later this year.

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William Desmond Taylor's murder involved two of Hollywood's biggest stars at the time. With elements of romance, whodunits, and twists, Willaim Desmond Taylor’s story could have been a movie in itself. By the 1910s, the motion picture industry in Hollywood was beginning to take off and so was the career of William Desmond Taylor. He started as an actor and became a director, working on dozens of films. But ultimately, what Taylor came to be remembered for most was his shocking unsolved murder and the mystery surrounding it. William Desmond Taylor was shot in his home in the middle of the night and his death – in the midst of a slew of showbusiness scandals – led to the start of people’s interest in the sensationalized inner-workings of Hollywood. William Desmond Taylor Makes It In The Film Industry William Desmond Taylor was born in Carlow, Ireland on April 26, 1872. He was sent to a finishing school in Kansas when he was 18 and fell in love with America. Between 1914 and 1915, he landed roles in several silent films and made his directorial debut with The Awakening. Over the next seven years, with a stint in the Army during the end of WWI, Taylor directed at least 40 more films. In his role as Captain Alvarez in 1914, he rode a horse at full gallop across a rope bridge, a stunt that the publicity department dubbed the most dangerous in cinema history. Taylor was also made the president of the Motion Picture Directors Association. His gregarious personality and directing talent had him going far in the growing movie industry. But on Feb. 2, 1922, all that potential was squandered. Residents of the Alvarado Court Apartments rushed out at the sound of a scream. Valet Henry Peavey had just found his Hollywood director boss dead on the floor of his duplex, a bullet wedged between his neck and shoulder. A Sensatonalized Hollywood Murder When police inspected the scene, they ruled out robbery as a motive and said there had been no forced entry. That was where the hard-facts stopped. Everything that came afterward was a series of revelations, peculiar details, mixed witness accounts, and lots of drummed-up gossip. During the investigation that followed, a slew of details flooded the police reports. Neighbors reported hearing a gunshot sound on the night of the murder. A few witnesses came forward claiming to have seen a man with dark hair leave Taylor’s apartment the night before. One of the most corroborated details was that Mabel Norman, the actress Taylor was seeing at the time, was the last person to see him alive. She stopped by briefly to grab two books and said when she got there Taylor expressed worry over Peavey, who he had to bail out of jail for soliciting young men, and over his secretary, who had disappeared after forging checks. Then there was the fact that Taylor had allegedly been dead for twelve hours before the police showed up. There was gossip that when they did show up, Hollywood executives were ominously burning papers in the fireplace. Suspects And Gossip, But Still Unsolved A list of suspects was drawn up. Normand was reported as having a cocaine addiction, and it was rumored that Taylor had gone to the federal government to help catch the dealers who were selling to her. One rumor stated that the drug pushers found out and a hit was put on Taylor to “silence” him. Mary Miles Minter, another actress who Taylor supposedly had an affair with, was also pointed to as potentially committing a crime of passion. Minter’s mother, Charlotte Shelby, was considered as well as it had been known that she was enraged with the 49-year-old Taylor for his affair with her teenage daughter. One of the more interesting details of the investigation revealed that Shelby allegedly owned a rare .38-caliber pistol and some unique bullets which were very similar to the kind that had killed Taylor. However, that evidence was deemed insufficient for an indictment of Shelby. Then the investigation took an even stranger turn. Two days after the murder, it was discovered that Taylor had a secret past working as a traveling thespian, an antique dealer, a hotel night clerk, and a Yukon prospector. It turned out that William Desmond Taylor wasn’t even his real name. His actual name was William Cunningham Deanne-Tanner, and he was married to a woman in New York named Ethel May Harrison who he had a daughter with. He’d abandoned them both to move to Hollywood. Harrison, who was a member of a very popular dance troupe called the Florodora sextette, hadn’t heard from her husband since Oct. 23, 1908. The first time she saw him after he left was on the big screen in 1919 when she went to the movies by chance, not knowing her vanished husband would be in it. And just add an extra dose of weird, it was revealed that Taylor had a brother, Dennis Deane Tanner, who disappeared from New York in 1912. The press’s penchant for embellishing and hyping the story only added fuel to the fire. After the murder, 300 people across the country walked into various police stations to confess to the murder. But there was never enough evidence found and nobody was arrested for the murder. On the heels of million-dollar comedian Fatty Arbuckle’s manslaughter charge, and actor Wallace Reid’s drug-related death, Taylor’s murder spurred a newfound interest in Hollywood scandal. To provide damage-control, Will Hay became president of the Motion Picture Producers and Directors Association, heading a censorship and studio control campaign in Hollywood in order to clean up its image. But a media circus surrounding the film industry is clearly one that hasn’t died down. And the same goes for Willaim Desmond Taylor’s murder, which still baffles people today. Next, read about the Hollywood model who was tortured and scalped by her boyfriend. Then read about Peg Entwistle, who killed herself by jumping off the Hollywood sign.

Watsonia 38 (PV 292) - Plettenberg Bay This opulent villa is pure luxury. Situated in the secure up market Brackenridge Estate, the villa has five bedrooms. On the entrance level is an impressive entrance double volume lobby with water feature. There is a large open plan living area on this level with lounge, dining and kitchen area, television lounge and an enclosed barbeque room with pizza oven and dining table. This leads onto the garden and beautiful swimming pool area. The guest bedroom in on this level. Upstairs are four bedrooms which include the vast master bedroom. Downstairs is the most fantastic games room with wine cellar, stunning cinema and outdoor sitting area. This exclusive villa is beautifully designed and very well equipped.

MSC Meraviglia Entertainment & Activities Broadway Theatre (Deck 6): The 985-seat, 100 square foot main theater, at the front of the ship, shows six different shows per cruise including a flamenco show, an opera and then a few productions from the school of eccentric theater including Virtual, which is based on phone apps including dating apps, maps and even a sequence of doctors and nurses -- all to an insanely energetic dance background. The shows run three times a night to cater for the different dining times, and last about 40 minutes each. They vary in quality and theme, with the flamenco and opera being distinctly high-brow, and more adult-oriented; with Virtual being firmly aimed at the kids in the auditorium. There are good sightlines and comfy seats, though, oddly, no glass holders. During the day, the theatre is used for various activities including some of the children's activity program like Doremi Music Match, part of the Kelly & Kloe program and the Doremi live talent show. Carousel Lounge (Deck 7): For the first time ever, Cirque du Soleil is at sea, with two 40-minute productions -- Sonor and Viaggio -- designed by the Montreal-based global circus company specifically for MSC Meraviglia (there will be six more original productions on the three forthcoming Meraviglia-class ships). The two productions take place in The Carousel Lounge (Deck 7), which was built specifically for Cirque, and is at the back of the ship, on two levels, with a circular stage, tiered seating and a massive LED screen wrapped around the ceiling. Both shows begin with a short musical session, with two guitarists and a Brazilian singer. Note, there is no option to see the Cirque shows without either buying the Dinner & Show experience (35 euros) or the Cocktail & Show (15 euros), but to be honest to see a Cirque show for even 35 euros is a huge bargain. Sonor is billed as the "darker" of the two shows, both literally and metaphorically. As the name suggests, it explores sound, and according to Creative Director Susan Gaudreult, is the first Cirque show which had sound (rather than images) as its starting point. The "plot" (in the loosest sense of the word) centers on a villain stealing sound, though as with all Cirque shows, it's more about the visuals and the acrobatics which are, as always, extraordinary. There is a sequence in which a performer whirls himself around the stage in a giant hoop, which is breathtaking; so too the men who march across the LED screen, suspended from the ceiling directly above the audience. That, and the moment a giant ladder emerges from the screen, are breathtaking, but a 10-minute interlude with a human beatbox is just tedious. Overall, this performance doesn't really hang together, it's more of a mish-mash of ideas, some of which work, others do not. Viaggio is, by contrast, a riot of color, joy and fun with even a vague plot: an artist searching for his elusive muse. This is definitely one for all the family, with flying bicycles, juggling, an LED screen which looks as if the Cirque troupe have gleefully thrown paint all over, and a ladder sequence which is frankly, astonishing. Viaggio has a slapstick feel to it, and there is more obvious audience interaction with the performers walking amongst us, waving from the ceiling and encouraging us to clap along. A real triumph. Performances start at 6:30 p.m. and again 9:30 p.m. for Dinner & Show; 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. for Cocktail and Show. The fun never stops on Meraviglia, pretty well everywhere you are. Throughout the day you'll find most of the action around the main pool, with pool games, dance classes, quizzes, darts and line dancing and table tennis tournaments in the adjacent Bamboo Lounge. Elsewhere on the ship, you'll find bingo in the Casino, a video quiz in the TV Studio and even midday parades along the main promenade, Galleria Meraviglia. The Galleria's showpiece -- the 80m LED ceiling -- displays various scenes throughout the day and night which are listed on the daily planner. You'll find music almost everywhere you go on Meraviglia, whether that's live or pumped out of the speakers. As well as in the bars and lounges, you'll also find live music in the reception area at times throughout the day and in the evenings. There is a White Party around the main pool area which takes place once a cruise and goes on till late. There are also various themed parties in the main Galleria Meraviglia, when the whole promenade resembles a street party, with music and dancing till late. Casino Imperiale (Deck 7): This is a huge casino, but unlike on many megaships today, it's tucked away at the back of Deck 7. There are numerous slots and gaming tables, as well as daily tournaments and bingo. MSC Meraviglia Bars and Lounges Infinity Bar (Deck 5, midship): Right by reception, at the base of the atrium, this bar is a popular meeting place for coffees during the day and pre- and post-dinner cocktails in the evening. Champagne Bar (Deck 6, midship): Classy second deck Atrium bar serving various Champagne brands. The bar itself is on one side, with seats right round the atrium. Edge Bar (Deck 7, midship): Another popular pre- and post-dinner cocktail bar, with a full-size motorbike and side car signature centerpiece. Meraviglia Bar & Lounge (Deck 6, forward): This is the main promenade bar, at the aft end of the ship, just outside the Broadway Theatre. It's a lively spot in the early evening, with a dance floor which is usually full. TV Studio & Bar (Deck 7, forward): An enclosed bar on the upper deck of the Galleria Meraviglia which has live music, a dance floor and late-night karaoke. It's a full TV studio which broadcasts live games, quizzes and talent contests. Carousel Lounge (Deck 7, aft): The Carousel Lounge bar. Casino Bar (Deck 7, aft): The Casino bar, in the center of Casino Imperiale. Brass Anchor Pub (Deck 7, forward): This is MSC's version of a "British" pub, complete with a picture of London on the wall outside, and they have done a pretty good job. It sits on the upper section of the Galleria, with tables outside overlooking the promenade. Inside, it's nicely designed in soft greens, with low lighting and plenty of booth seating. There's even space for a small band, which to be honest makes it more reminiscent of an Irish Pub. There are 12 beers on tap and 47 bottles, though nothing unusual, just a variety of well-known brands from around the world. Can't decide? Have a yard of beer -- a snip at 22 euros. There is also cider and bar snacks, including fish 'n' chips starting at a very reasonable three euros. Atmosphere Bar North (Deck 15, forward): Poolside bar serving a variety of drinks including beers, cocktails and shakes. Atmosphere Bar South (Deck 15, midship): Poolside bar serving the same as above, plus various grilled food including burgers and hot dogs for free. Atmosphere Ice Cream Bar (Deck 15): Serves a wide selection of ice creams. Bamboo Bar (Deck 15, forward): Inside poolside bar in the solarium area. Top Sail Lounge (Deck 15, forward): This gorgeous spot in the exclusive surrounds of the Yacht Club is only open to YC guests, so it's never crowded either during the day or night. It's at the front of the ship, with large glass windows right round the room giving great views. There are plenty of tables and sofa chairs and a bar with table service. All drinks are free to YC guests and snacks are available throughout the day. Sports Bar (Deck 16, aft): Adjacent to the amusement arcade, this American-diner type bar serves a variety of beers, soft drinks, pop corns, hot dogs, snack bars and assorted energy and protein drinks as well as shakes and juices. Horizon Bar (Deck 18, aft): Outside bar which serves the Horizon Amphitheater and Pool. This gets especially busy at night as it's a tiny bar serving a huge space. You might be better off going inside to the Attic Club or a deck below to the Sports Bar, if it's very crowded. Attic Club (Deck 18, aft): This is the inside bar area of the Horizon Bar, also encompasses a dance floor which plays predominantly techno music and overlooks the Seaplex. Sky Lounge (Deck 18, midship): This gorgeous lounge, designed in elegant black and white and chrome, is a sanctuary from the mayhem going on in the rest of the ship. It has floor-to-ceiling glass windows which run right round the semi-circular space, overlooking the main pool deck and either side of the ship. It's a perfect spot for a quiet pre- or post-dinner cocktail. After dinner, a talented trio -- pianist, guitarist and singer -- from Buenos Aires entertain with smoky jazz tunes. The drinks menu includes various "molecular" cocktails. On one side, you'll find a cigar room. Polar Bar (Deck 19): This is a small snack and drinks bar nestled under the waterslides. MSC Meraviglia Outside Recreation Main Pool (Deck 15): A large, noisy, smoky (on the starboard side) area which gets extremely crowded and raucous on most days, with loud music and poolside games and dancing going on every day, all day. There are two pools connected by a shallow area in the center. Double loungers are built into the side of the pools, which are available on a first-come first served basis; and there are plenty of loungers set back from here. Note that tiny kids are not permitted to use the pools. Bamboo Pool (Deck 15): Just beyond the main pool area you'll find the Bamboo Pool, which consists of a pool with two large whirlpool tubs either side. There is a retractable roof, a bar and plenty of loungers. On the upper level is the solarium. Solarium (Deck 16): This is the upper level of the Bamboo Pool and has two large whirlpools, table tennis, foosball and plenty of chairs and tables ranged round the gallery. Horizon Pool (Deck 16): A square-shaped pool right at the back of the ship with lovely views. It is surrounded by a tiered amphitheater with loungers on the pool deck area, and tables and chairs on the tiers. Yacht Club (Deck 19): This exclusive pool area includes a small saltwater pool and an adjoining hot tub. There are plenty of loungers, and even on a sea day this tranquil area high atop the ship is never full. Breakfast and a buffet lunch are served up here, and drinks are available all day. At the back of the ship you'll find the Himalayan Ropes Course and the Polar Aqua Park, both of which are impressive by any standards. The ropes course takes you right round the edge of the ship and includes two tracks side by side, one trickier than the other and neither for the fainthearted. The Polar Aqua Park is a kids' splash park on the lower level, with spray guns, water dunkers and a small slide. Above it are three water slides, which are open to anyone over 1m 20 cms, or four feet, (no age restriction). Two involve sitting in tubes and take you down to a watery finish via numerous twists and turns, often in the dark. The third is known as the Champagne Glass because after a very fast slide you end up going round and round in an open circular glass-shaped space. Inside you'll find the Sportplex, which is a multi-use facility, primarily for basketball, tennis and volleyball and for kids' organized games during the day as it's right beside the kids' club, but at night it evolves into a disco, with a DJ, decks and podiums. Beside here is the extremely expensive Amusement Park, which includes two F1 simulators (10 euros for six minutes), a bowling alley with two lanes (30 euros for 30 minutes), a 4D cinema (eight euros or six for kids), a flight simulator (12 euros for a five-minute ride) and a video games arcade next door. There are also passes available which start at 25 euros, for which you get five euros free credit, and go up to 100 euros (plus 60 euros credit). These can be used on all the games. Deck 16: Around two thirds of Deck 16 -- the part overlooking the main pool deck all the way back to the Amphitheatre -- is a sun deck. And despite the crowding on the main pool deck and the sheer volume of people on this ship, you are unlikely to struggle to find a space, even on a sea day. Basically, the further towards the aft you go, the more likely you'll find a spot (maybe even a quiet one). Chair hogging did not seem to be an issue on this ship. You'll find two whirlpool tubs up here, jutting out slightly from the main body of the ship. Top 19 (Deck 19): This is an exclusive Sun Deck, available only to Aurea and Wellness passengers, situated high atop the ship. There is a towel service available, but nothing else (you will have to get your own drinks). MSC Meraviglia Services The main reception area is an elegant space on Deck 5, at the aft end of the main promenade and forming part of the Infinity Atrium. It consists of Reception, the main Shore Excursions desk (there is a second one part-way down the Galleria); the Infinity Bar and a small Business Center, which is a conference room -- not an internet center. There are also several machines dotted around here for activating your key card. The space above is given over to the photo gallery, a tiny library (really just a few book shelves) and the Champagne Bar. The atrium rises three decks and is criss-crossed by four chrome staircases, every stair encrusted with Swarovski crystals -- more than 31,000 in total. There is a grand piano on a raised dais, with performances in the early evening. Most of the shops are clustered along the aft end of the Galleria, just above reception on Deck 6, and include a logo shop, watches, handbags and designer sunglasses; half way down the promenade is Plaza Meraviglia, which includes duty free shops. There are often sales here throughout the day, in this semi-circular space. There are also a couple of shops at the forward end of the promenade selling high-end items. Meraviglia has excellent Wi-Fi and has three different packages available, depending on how much you anticipating using your phone and/or laptop: Streamer (59 euros, four devices), Surfer (39.90 euros, two devices) and Surfer (19.90 euros, one device). If you run out of data, you can top up for about a quarter of the cost of the package. There is no self-service laundry, but you can get washing done for 10 items for 15 euros, or 20 items for 25 euros.

"I'm sorry. If you were right I'd agree with you." Robin Williams, "Awakenings" THE ULTIMATE "ST NEWS" REFERENCE GUIDE Part 2 - "Earth" to "Klaxos Nine" Earth. Mostly Harmless. Empty Trashcan With Something In It, the. Somewhere in late 1988 and early 1989, reading Douglas >Adams' books made the ST NEWS writers ever more crazy. And so it happened that, one day, various occurrences of the Extollers of the Empty Trashcan With Something In It came to life, spiritually entering the editorial rooms, chanting slogans, and flapping their >sandals. Obviously inspired by Hare Krishna and Zen followers, these articles just served to take the mickey out of these reli-nuts. The ST NEWS 'reli-nut issue' was Volume 4 Issue 3. Enchanted Land. Game programmed by Nic of >TCB for >Thalion and finished autumn 1990. It was the first and last Atari game to feature 50 Hz (1 vertical blank) arcade action on a fully sync- scrolling screen in all directions. 'Two little known facts of this game are the following. Nic thought of the name of the leading character, Khurgan. This was inspired by the baddy in "Highlander". And I thought up the name of the game, which was inspired by the song of the same name by Estefan, Gloria. (b. 1 Sep. 1957) Rather lovely singer who was the model for one of the >Ambulor Eight nurses working in the >Hospital for the Very Very Splattered who re-appeared in a handful of Cronos >Warchild stories. Between the nurse and Cronos there appeared to be a strangely platonic relationship that, for the most part, Warchild was completely unaware of. 'I don't know why I picked Gloria Estefan, really. I am not a fan or anything, but she's pretty, so that's why it happened, I suppose. Today I'd probably pick Mariah Carey or Björk or Eureka Event of Excellence. Momentously pretentious event involving a lot of fireworks, 400 singers, some guests artists and >Vangelis, taking place on 18 June 1991. All of it, with the exception of some keyboard fills and, possibly, the choire, was playbacked. Still, it looked really impressive. A visit to this occasion by the ST NEWS editorial staff and various members of the >Quartermass Xperiment was chronicled in a >real-time article in ST NEWS Volume 6 Issue 2. European Demos. Two-disk megademo, one of the two to be released at the >STNICCC in 1990, together with >"Syntax Terror". Made by the Overlanders, who actually pronounced it as "European Demos". Well, at least they got the plural right, but that was probably because they had Dogue de Mauve, English expert, among their Evelien. Stefan's first real girlfriend, back in the very early years of ST NEWS. We're talking early 1988 here, around the time when >TEX visited >ST Club Eindhoven and the first >Real-time article was written. Excel Software. English company of Stockport, Cheshire, set up by Niall >McKiernon. It primarily distributed Public Domain software in the UK. After Richard had written an article about viruses that got published in the December 1988 issue of >"Page 6", Niall contacted him for a distribution deal on what was then known as the "Virus Destruction Utility". Little more than half a year later, he got Richard a deal with >CRL. Extravagant English. A group of ST NEWS readers in Chorley, England. They wrote some very interestingly warped letters to Stefan and Richard, and a short period of intense correspondence followed. Ash Chadwick was the one who had the ST and wrote some simple but hilarious demos. He later entertained the editorial staff by writing lengthy accounts of autopsies, which he had to assist with for his work. He has a sister called Mel >Chadwick. 'The Extravagant English were very much like the >Nutty Norwegians, only rather more Extravagant and less Nutty. We'd always hoped for Grotesque Germans, Awesome Australians and Berzerked Belgians, but somehow they never came. Closest we came was an Amazing Austrian (hi Marinos!).' (Richard) Faber, Gerard. A.k.a. Fabersoft, which is, granted, a bit of a silly name. He co-conspired with the creation of ST NEWS somewhere in the 1986-1987 timespan. He then switched to buy an >Amiga with his friend Jos >Schilders. They claimed to be very happy with their Amigas. FaST Club. Excellent Atari club in Nottingham, England, lead by Paul Glover. They release a magazine called "ST Applications", and faithfully support Atari ST and Falcon formats. Ever since original UK ST NEWS distributor "Page 6 / New Atari User" started to devote less attention to 16-bit Atari stuff and less to 8-bit, "Fast Club" became the original ST NEWS distributor. F.A.S.T.E.R. Commercial disk magazine from Canada which started around autumn of 1986, within months after ST NEWS, and ended with Volume 2 Issue 4, around the summer of 1987. Right from the start it used a GEM-based user interface with a (medium res) picture. This was what eventually caused ST NEWS to start using its own user interface (though not originally quite such a good one) starting with the first 1987 issue, Volume 2 Issue 1. 'It was the magazine we looked up to, and certainly the best of its time by a long shot. A year or so later, a magazine wrote a review of ST NEWS in which it claimed we had gotten better than "F.A.S.T.E.R.", which was at the time the biggest compliment we could get.' (Richard) Fax Wars, the. A friendly war that included a lot of swearing and pictures of Lost People slaughtering Gremlbears, and vice versa. It all happened one day in the late summer of 1990, through fax, between a number in Sweden and the number of the Thalion offices in Germany. Thalion's managing director wasn't very happy the next day, when he noticed how often fax messages had been sent. This eventually accumulated in a special 'slaughter screen' in the >TLB megademo, "Ooh Crikey Wot a Scorcher". Flash Cracking Group (FCG). Sortof semi-illegal German crew of which the >Amazing Cracking Conspiracy became a member after them switching to the Atari ST. It only lasted for a few months, after which they joined the >Desaster Area. All this joining and stuff was basically a name thing and never amounted to any serious co- operation. FCG was already pretty 'famous' on the Commodore 64. Flying Shark. Game released by Firebird in the late eighties. Reviewing this game, Stefan wrote his first ever 'introductory novel', which was a particularly fine one even though it ended in the death of the protagonist. Froggies over the Fence. Last of the great megademos, released 29 September 1993 on 3 double-sided disks, originally planned for September 1992. Richard wrote the scroll message of the "reset screen", which was arguably the longest scroller ever written in the history of Atari demo coding with a length of almost 170,000 bytes. Unfortunately, the demo allowed the reader to page up and down through it, and it had become readable as a screen-filling story instead of a simple horizontal scrolling line. It was released by a bunch of French crews, lead by the >Overlanders. Furyo. The Man With The Smelliest Feet In The Universe. Known to send worn socks to members of varies other crews, such as Tim of >TLB and Tyrem of The Respectables. His real name is Fabrice Odero, and he lives in the south of France somewhere. Gehrmann, Holger. First of the Atari ST sound programmers who were any good. He made several games for his company, Reline software, titles of which include "Extensor" and "Space Port". "Extensor" was a monochrome "Tron" type of game, not too good but with really great music that was the first to use "twin-tone mode" on the Atari YM 2149 sound chip. "Space Port" was a Commodore 64 "Fort Apocalypse" clone, though not quite as playable. Holger made his music available for use in a project called >"Synth Sample V", including one original composition. GenST. The assembler of choice, part of "DevPac ST", for Stefan. Using this, he wrote all the assembler code for ST NEWS and his contributions to the >TLB demos. Gently, Dirk. Character in Douglas >Adams' books "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" (1987) and "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul" (1988). Marvelously witty and very, very weird. 'Needless to say, both Stefan and me consumed these books avidly. I recently read the first of the two again and was once again inspired and awed and its weirdness. Now I come to think of it, I think the Electric Monk might have been the catalyst for all the general nuttyness and crazitude that entered ST NEWS around the end of 1988, which is when we actually got into these GfA Basic. A very powerful and versatile BASIC dialect for the ST, written by Frank Ostrowski and marketed by GfA Systemtechnik, Germany. Used by Stefan and Richard to write most of the ST NEWS code, and by Richard to produce all of his other programs. Using Pascal-like procedures and fast 100% machine code, it was challenged only by "Omikron Basic", which came on the market too late. Especially through use of "GfA Flydials" by Gregor Duchalski, such programs as "Hiscore Terminal Utility", "Backup Destruction Utility" and >"Ultimate Virus Killer" came by their slick GEM interface using windows and custom dialogs. Glenlivet. After reading "Magic Kingdom for Sale (Sold)" by Terry Brooks - in which the protagonist took only a few bottles of Glenlivet from the real world to the imaginary world - Stefan decided to try this drink. The smooth and mellow 12 year old single malt Scotch whisky went down well and Stefan introduced it to his friend Niklas >Malqvist in Sweden. Both became big fans of the drink and many, many bottles were consumed during Nik's monthly visits to Stefan during the >CD-I years. Googlogulpax (also spelled GOOGOGULPEX). Fictional planet from which uncannily naked, incredibly long-limbed creatures descend to earth to hand >"Multiface" cartridges to unsuspecting ST NEWS editorial staff members. Creatures from this planet occurred twice in the 10 years ST NEWS lasted, and are known to have taken grave insult to the term "??½????¬¿?÷!" This string of seemingly pointless characters was 'accidentally' typed in when Stefan was writing and Richard put on >Sodom's "Live Without Sense" rather too loudly. Although meaningless to most sentient beings, in Googlogulpaxian it means "Go and stick a Brussels sprout up your anal muscle". The planet has an economy that largely thrives on the growing of Brussels Sprouts (come on now, you didn't believe there was enough space in Brussels to grow them all, did you?). As a matter of fact, they have at least 41 different words for "sprout", though only one word for "sphincter". Gray Matter. The company that lured Stefan away from >SPC, and onto the North American continent. Located in Toronto, Ontario, >Canada, it creates games for the Sony Playstation, the Sega Saturn, the 3DO M2 and PC. The company is headed by author of the 8-bit version of the immortal game "Boulderdash", Chris Gray. The company is momentarily involved in writing a PC/Playstation version of "The Crow City of Angels", which will supposedly be the most gory and violent game of all times. Greco, Gerardo. First Italian distributor of ST NEWS, later replaced by Federico Bicini. Gerardo wrote some interesting stuff, such as a review of the impressive "ADAP Sound Rack" (early in Volume 2) and an interview with Shiraz Shivji, the man who according to popular legend designed both the >Commodore 64 and Atari ST on his kitchen table. Greek Goddess. Title, lovingly bestowed on the waitress in a Greek restaurant (real name Agapi) that was visited by Stefan and Richard after the "HCC Dagen" (a computer fair) in autumn of 1988. They fell instantly, romantically and head-over-heels in love with her for a period that lasted approximately 12 euphoric hours into which they committed to paper a rather over-the-top and quite self-indulgent piece about her that eventually made it into ST NEWS Volume 3 Issue 7, which they also decided they'd dedicate to her. 'In March 1989, we eventually had dinner at that particular restaurant, "Zorba the Greek", again. We had a printed-out version of the story with us. Although Agapi wasn't there that particular evening, we gave it to a colleague that said he'd hand it on. Agapi no longer works there now. As a matter of fact, a few years ago the name changed to "Mr. Jack's" and it's now a rather cramped and cheap Italian/Greek restaurant. I go there regularly because it's so cheap. They sell a gorgeous but culinarily barbarian "giros pizza". I always add gorgonzola cheese sauce.' (Richard) Guatemala. A small country in Middle America. Stefan went here in 1992, visiting his girlfriend at the time, >Ivette. Gütersloh. Town about 50 kilometres east of the German Ruhrgebiet, suffering from a chronic lack of nightlife. It was the town where >Thalion Software was located and, thus, the place where Richard lived for approximately 18 months from October 1988 to March 1991. 'The only good times I had there were the Christmas markets. They used to sell great baked mushrooms then. Gütersloh had no nightlife whatsoever, which was horrible. We'd go to the cinema regularly, though, but those were dubbed in German. Good thing was that they didn't have breaks in the middle of the film. We spent our evenings working late, writing, coding, or watching videos. We used to live in the old Thalion office, where there weren't any showers, so we just went to the swimming pool really early in the morning to shower ourselves. We spent our time their wetting old German women's hair which they tried very much to keep dry.' (Richard) Häagen-Dazs. After first tasting this in the USA, Stefan became immediately hooked. Certainly the king of ice creams, and still ruling. Much to Stefan's despair, it was unavailable in Holland for years. He had to get his fixes while on holiday in the States or visiting his sister in the UK. When it was finally introduced to Holland, Stefan frequently used to make 20 minute detours while driving home from work to pick up a tub. Now, living in Canada, the stuff is available to him in every supermarket and gas station, a true heaven. Be assured that his freezer always contains at least one tub. Hackbear, Lord (LHB). Honorary title, "Ripper of the Decade", bestowed upon Torbjørn >Ose after having hacked the copy protection off the "Thalion Sound Demo". The decade in question is that of the 80's, and Torbjørn also deserved this title because he'd ripped the music from every single issue of ST NEWS up to that moment, and he'd written a special utility to extract and decompress the ST NEWS articles to find the hidden ones. The lengths to which he'd go were quite amazing. At the same time this title was bestowed on Torbjørn, Karl-Anders Øygard (a.k.a. Wizzcat of Delta Force) got named his apprentice. The ST NEWS editorial staff was greatly pleased when Torbjørn adapted this name as his new computer scene nickname and even, much later, joined Delta Force under this monicker. Hamsters. Small nocturnal rodents that gather food and nesting materials using their pouch-like cheeks. Very cute and cuddly, they make good pets and their endless curiosity and activity make them a great source of entertainment. A funny thing is that many people see hamster-keeping as childish and immature yet every one of the critics melted when confronted with the small balls of fur and were stricken by their cute and friendly appearance. Richard and Stefan have had quite a few, including >Pipi, >Cronos, Malmpje, >Chi-Chi, >Nephilim, >Natanga and >Mr. Pink (and that is just during the ST NEWS years, i.e. from summer 1986). Hatlemark, Ronny. Erstwhile ST NEWS distributor in Norway and host to the >"Norway Quest" (1989-1990), later 'just' good friend after he decided to sell his Atari and embrace the world of PCs and compatibles and once more (co-)host to a smaller "Norway Quest" in the summer of 1993. He was the centrepoint of the >Nutty Norwegians. It wasn't until the general ST NEWS craziness involving Douglas Adams, reli-nuts and general mayhemmatic absurdity that he really showed himself from his zany side, bringing into the play his friends Gard >Abrahamsen, Frøystein >Hustadnes and Torbjørn >Ose. During the first "Norway Quest" he started seeing Anne-Grete Masdal, with whom he got a daughter, Jeanette (b. 13 June 1992). Not long after the second Norway Quest (summer 1993), they unfortunately broke up. 'I still remember the first thing he sent to me. It was a picture postcard of the place where he lived, Ørsta, at the end of a fjord and draped on a mountain. It had a small circle around a house, with an arrow which said "I live here". He became the official Norwegian ST NEWS distributor but I never really heard anything from him for about a year or so. Until he discovered that we were crazy, that is, and he really joined our frayed edges of insanity.' (Richard) Hawking, Stephen. Brilliant British scientist suffering from ALS Lou Gehrig's Syndrome, a fate shared by wonder-guitarist Jason >Becker. Hawking has written several excellent books, one of which - "A Brief History of Time" (1988) - was read by the ST NEWS editorial staff. 'A book like that cannot help but change the reader for the rest of his life. Although it's quite difficult, Hawking goes through lengths to try and make it understandable. It really changes some of the basic aspects of life, just to know some of the stuff he knows. He is the Einstein of our time. He's written another 'popularly' scientific book last year or so, but I forgot its Headache Obliteration Device. Loving nickname applied to the >Aiwa walkmen, caused by their sheer ability to obliterate headaches by inserting the earphones and pressing "PLAY". Although never described as such, they are also "Hangover Headbanging. An act of repeatedly moving back and forth (or circularly around) of one's head, preferably to heavy metal music. At times it's done with towels on heads, which had a rather hilarious effect when performed on a video like, say, the >"ST News Home Vid'". Helmond. Town in the southern part of the Netherlands, about 15 km. east of Eindhoven, where Richard lived from his birth in 1967 up to his departure from home in the summer of 1988. 'A pretty OK place, though I'd prefer never to have to live there again. It's turned very criminal - rating second after the really big cities such as Amsterdam - and has changed quite a bit since I left. I don't feel at home there any more.' (Richard) Hidden Articles. Ever since ST NEWS Volume 4 Issue 2, with the exception of Volume 10 Issue 2, one or more articles in ST NEWS have been 'hidden'. This usually entailed that some kind of thing had to be performed by the reader (such as pressing a particular key combination, or typing a particular word or number when in menu mode) in order to gain access to articles reckoned not fit for normal exposure. Usually, these featured raunchy song lyrics or rather "American Psycho" type horrors, or dirty bits lifted off some deranged Usenet News group, or segments from fake >'real-time' articles. Most of the time, though, they feature articles that are funny in a harmless way, but hidden because they were taken from another source. The first couple of ST NEWS issues with hidden articles had separately written segments of the program to cope with them, but there have been standard routines in them for at least three years now. They can handle all 'hidden article event types' needed. Lord >HackBear is known to have ripped hidden articles using a custom ST NEWS decrunching tool. One wonders why he did it. 'I always thought that too many disk magazines were made up for too far an extent - or even almost solely - of 'humour' articles lifted off some Internet site or BBS. When we'd come across one of these that was simply irressistably funny, we'd use them as hidden articles. That way we could at least have the outward impression that we were doing all of ST NEWS just about ourselves. We never used more than 5% of all stuff as hidden articles, I think.' (Richard) Hippel, Jochen. (b. 14 October 1972) A.k.a. Mad Max of >TEX. One of the most brilliant Atari music programmers, if not because of his composition skills. He started converted Rob >Hubbard tunes from the >Commodore 64 for the first few TEX demos, which eventually culminated in the astounding >"B.I.G. Demo", released in early 1988. For quite a few issues, starting with ST NEWS Volume 2 Issue 5, he's supplied the music. With the release of Volume 5 Issue 2, the "Mega Apocalypse" soundtrack was clumsily prepared. Obviously, it was only a burden to him to supply more music. He has not been heard of since in the context of ST NEWS. Latest rumours go around saying that he's become a car repairman. Table: Music in ST NEWS Issue: Title: Programmed by: Origin: 2.1 Popcorn ? ? 2.5 Monty on the Run Mad Max Rob Hubbard 2.6 Chimera Mad Max Rob Hubbard 2.7 Warhawk Mad Max Rob Hubbard 2.8 Ace II Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.1 W.A.R. Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.2 Thrust Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.3 International Karate + Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.4 BMX Simulator II Mad Max D. Whittaker 3.5 Wiz Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.6 I, Ball Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.7 Balloon Challenge Mad Max Rob Hubbard 3.C Phantoms of the Ast. Mad Max Rob Hubbard 4.1 Auf Wiedersehen Monty Mad Max Rob Hubbard 4.2 Zoolook Mad Max Rob Hubbard 4.3 Comic Bakery Mad Max Martin Galway 4.4 Chris Hülsbeck Remix Mad Max Chris Hülsbeck Knuckle Buster Mad Max Rob Hubbard Galway Remix Mad Max Martin Galway Panther David Whittaker D. Whittaker 5.1 Scoop Mad Max Jeroen Tel F.C Knuckle Buster Mad Max Rob Hubbard 5.2 Mega Apocalypse Mad Max Hubbard 6.1 Malleus Malliforicum The Mind The Mind 6.2 Repatriated Nuclear Ululation The Mind The Mind 7.1 Freddy's Revenge The Mind The Mind 7.2 Judgment Day Big Alec Big Alec 7.3 Tubular Bells Remix Big Alec Big Alec 8.1 A Case for Two Big Alec Big Alec 8.2 In Visible Touch Big Alec Big Alec 9.1 Punish Your Machine Big Alec Big Alec 9.2 Bangkok Knights Loader Big Alec Matt Gray 9.3 Reality Big Alec Big Alec 10.1 Crystal Clear Big Alec Big Alec 10.2 Stand By Big Alec Big Alec 11.1 Hyperspace Melancholy Big Alec Big Alec x.C = Compendium; F.C = Final Compendium Hold button. Thing on the >Aiwa walkmen owned by both members of the ST NEWS editorial staff. When in the "on" position, it makes sure no key is accidentally depressed. When in the "on" position, it also makes sure any intended action is not actually executed, such as "record" when in one room together with the X-Cops, doing 'I was pretty pissed off at my own stupidity.' (Richard) Holst, Kai. (b. 20 Aug. 1974) One of the two members (with Leif Einar Claus, lover of 12-year-old-girls and dweller of the arctic circle) of the New >Nutty Norwegians. He got introduced to ST NEWS rather late, so he had missed all the old goings-on. Like Richard, he was also the author of a virus killer program, "Antidote" ('practise safe hex, use "Antidote"!'). Richard and >Miranda visited him (as well as Ronny >Hatlemark) in the summer of 1993. His mother, like that of Ronny, is a great and copious cook. Kai is an unsurpassed knower of old ST NEWS trivia. Home Vid'. Quite a few of these have been made throughout the history of ST NEWS. The first, of course, was the May 1989 >"ST NEWS Home Vid'". Later followed the December 1990 >"ST NEWS International Christmas Coding Convention Vid'" (of which over 40 copies were made and sent out), the summer 1991 (?) "QX Home Vid' - Looking For Inspiration" and the Yuletide 1992/1993 "The Vid' We Found No Name For". They are sometimes referred to as CVTs, or Crazy Video Tapes. 'The term "home vid'", with the trendy apostrophe at the end, was inspired by the "Cliff 'Em All" Metallica home vid'. The stuff we did was pretty much like it - the quality ain't that happenin', but it's the atmosphere that counts.' (Richard) Honey. Bees' shit. Despite the fact that it comes from a arthropod's arsehole, it tastes remarkably sweet. >Ants have an obsession with it. Hospital for the Very Very Splattered. A kind of sanitorium for suicidals located on >Ambulor Eight. Nurses - who are known to bear uncanny resemblance to Gloria >Estefan in at least one or two recorded cases - walk around with "Ambulor Eight Hospital For The Very Very Splattered" printed on the back of their uniforms in blood-red, dripping writing most commonly found in B-horror House, My. A small adventure game written in "GfA Basic" used to illustrate Stefan's first programming article for ST NEWS, "How to Write Your Own Adventures" (in ST NEWS Volume 1 Issue 6, November 1986). Based on one of his first adventures written way back for the Commodore VIC 20 after getting an 8K RAM expansion Hubbard, Rob. Amazingly talented music programmer and, even more so, composer. Made a name on the Commodore 64 by writing a large amount of excellent musical pieces for games, such as "Monty on the Run", "Knuckle Buster" and "Master of Magic". He first appeared on the Atari platform in 1987 through the music of a Microdeal game called "Goldrunner" (which was actually a three- voice version of a two-voice tune in the Commodore 64 game "Human Race"). He later did the music for "Jupiter Probe" (Microdeal), "Warhawk" (Firebird) and "Thrust" (Firebird). His last musical piece on the Atari was for Elite's "Thundercats". Quite a few of his composition made it into ST NEWS through the capable hands of Hustadnes, Frøystein. Also known as Frøykid and the F-word. Legendary originator of the >Crazy Letters craze. He started writing them to the ST NEWS crew later 1988, stirred by the ever crazier writings (especially those involving >sandals) in ST NEWS. He is the author of the immortal article, "Why the Earth is Flat". Believed to be very young and tiny, he turned out to be quite the opposite in real life. Unfortunately, the fact that the ST NEWS crew had bought him a red-blue-and-yellow plastic toy truck for him during their >"Norway Quest" may have estranged him permanently. He is believed to be concentrating on climbing mountains and attempting to explain the principles of >car International Coding Conference. Coding conference organised by the German >Delta Force of Stuttgart. They each took place around their place of residence. The first one was organised in the summer of 1990, with the second one taking place from 1 August to 4 August 1991 (covered in a huge >real-time article in ST NEWS Volume 6 Issue 2). A third one, the so-called Virtual International Coding Conference, was an event taking place on the Internet IRC network on 7 November 1995. International Coding Convention, ST NEWS. See ">ST NEWS International Christmas Coding Convention". Interviews. Throughout the history of ST NEWS, the editorial staff as well as the various co-conspirators have managed to interview quite a few people of various ilk. A virtually complete list follows. Computer people: Chris "Maggie" Holland, Sietse "DBA Magazine" Postma, David "ST Enthusiasts Newsletter" Mooney, Jeff "Yak the Hairy" Minter (twice), Rob Hubbard, Julian Reschke, David Whittaker, Alex "Goldrunner II" Herbert, John "Goldrunner II" Dower, Shiraz Shivji, Jeroen "Maniacs of Noise" Tel, Steve "Goldrunner" Bak, Stuart "RDD" Coates, Pete Lyon, Damien M. Jones, Ben Dalglish, John "Nebulus" Phillips, Peter "Arkanoid" Johnson, Ofir "GEMBench" Gal, Stefan Posthuma, Andy and Dave (of Volume 11, i.e. "Starball"), Tim "Spitting Image" Coupe, the Bullfrog Team (of "Populous" fame), Jez "Starglider" San, the Lost Boys (and later Tim "Manikin" Moss separately), Tony "Cybernoid" Cooper, Ian "Carrier Command" Oliver, Dan "NeoDesk" Wilga and Richard "Felice" Spowart. Music people: Whistler Courbois Whistler, Bernd Steidl, Paradise Lost, Entombed, Napalm Death, Yngwie Malmsteen, X-Cops, Gwar, Venom, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Dream Theater, Consolation, Nembrionic Hammerdeath, Kevin Ferguson, Obituary, At The Gates, Altar, Septic Flesh, Nightfall, Orphaned Land, Fates Warning and Jens Johansson. Various other people: Terry "Discworld" Pratchett and Anne "Dragonriders of Pern" McCaffrey. And, of course, Steven Spielberg (NOT!). There has even been a hidden article in which Richard interviewed himself. 'I still have a wishing list of people I'd like to interview, though. In the computer biz' there are Anthony Crowther and Martin Galway; in the music biz' there are Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Rush, Queensrÿche, Deep Purple, Rainbow and Metallica. I'd just about give my right arm for those. Film stars? No, they don't really do much for me. Quentin Tarantino or James Cameron sound like interesting people, though.' (Richard) IRC. (Acronym for International Reply Coupon) Small green pieces of paper with text in various languages on them. When sent with a letter, they allow the addressee to bring the IRC to the post office in exchange for a stamp. This way, the addressee does not have to spend money on postage when the sender expects him or her to write back. This may seem like a cheapskate thing to do, but especially when a lot of letters require answering, this is a 'Nothing beats a lot of English people who simply sent English stamps and expected me to put them on my envelopes that I sent from the Netherlands. I still wonder whether that was subconscious arrogance or just plain boneheadedness.' (Richard) Ivette. A Guatemaltekan girl Stefan met while attending a computer conference in San Jose, California. Love at first sight does exist and a relationship ensued. Later, Stefan visited her in Guatemala and he wrote a story about it in ST NEWS. Long distance and culture shock ended the relationship about a year Janssen, Carel. Writer of the long-running "Forth Course", a series of tutorials which started somewhere in ST NEWS Volume 2 and continued up to the final pre-undead issue, i.e. Volume 5 Issue 1. Carel missed submitting his writings for only one or two issues, and that was because he had been the unfortunate victim of a heart attack. Although some people might claim the subject matter wasn't all that interesting, the articles were always superbly written and possessed a fine structure. Jarre, Jean Michel. (b. 24 Aug. 1948) French keyboard virtuoso who released a fine range of synthesizer albums, starting with "Oxygene" (1976). ST NEWS Volume 4 Issue 2, of April 1989, was dedicated to him. He has released 8 studio albums (the latest of which is "Chronologie") and 4 live albums. He has also released at least 4 live videos. Particularly "Revolutions" and "Concerts in China" seemed to be really important parts in the ST NEWS JBL. The make of Stefan's XPL160 speakers. Massive and powerful, and sounding exquisite. Much to the chagrin of the Mad Neighbour, a screaming woman that lived in the appartment below Stefan in >Oss. When he left for Canada, Stefan sold his >Kenwood stereo, but refused to part with his beloved JBLs. They are now part of a home-theatre setup in Stefan's apartment in Toronto, >Canada. Johansson, Lars. Member of the Swedish crew Flexichron. After Ewe Håkansson gave up being the official Swedish distributor of ST NEWS, Lars Johansson became he. Apart from doing the distribution, he has also contributed to the actual ST NEWS editorial contents. He also contributed a >real-time article for a Swedish convention that was to appalling it was refused (the only ever article refused to be put in ST NEWS; it was basically a giant load of semi-unknown people saying "fuck" and "shit" a lot and saying how other people sucked). In the final couple of issues, he tortured many people by his weird articles and imagery, some of which had to be made into >hidden articles. Joyce, Bryan H. Author who wrote the "Tavern at the Edge of the Universe" stories for ST NEWS, which were pretty brilliant. Last thing he wrote was a rather personal autobiography. Karin. (b. 13 July 1973) Richard's second and Final Serious 'To use Stefan's immortal words, a lot of adjectives of incredible strength have been applied to a variety of girls but she is The One For Me.' (Richard) Karsmakers, Richard. (b. 3 Nov. 1967) Founder of ST NEWS and main writer. Lived in >Helmond until 1988 when, after he'd finished secondary school (MAVO, HAVO, Atheneum), he went to Utrecht >University to study Biology. That didn't particularly work out, so in October 1989 he started working for >Thalion Software in Germany. There he did translations, novella writing and game design (he did the level design for >"Leavin' Teramis", the map design and editing for "Amberstar", and the full design for >"A Prehistoric Tale"). In April 1991 he'd left Thalion and went to work for >ACN. That lasted for two months, so he was on the dole for a month or two before he started his English studies, again at Utrecht University. At the same time he went to live together with >Miranda, whom he'd been going steady with since July 1989. They broke up in September 1994, and >Karin entered his life. He got his first computer in the summer of 1984, a >Commodore 64 (although he had doubted for a while whether he should perhaps buy a Sinclair QL). Around Easter 1986 he switched it for an Atari ST (512 Kb RAM, TOS on disk, SF 354 single-sided disk drive, monochrome monitor only, and only "ST Logo", "ST Basic", "DB Master One" and "1st Word" for software). In 1990 he sold it to upgrade to a MEGA ST2 that he expanded to 4 Mb, which in turn he sold later after he'd bought a Falcon 030 (4 Mb memory, 340 Mb hard disk) in October 1993. Even though he hates the mere fact, he'll be shifting his activities to the PC side of things with the end of ST NEWS. 'Eventually, I predict gloomly, my Atari-related stuff might be limited to a "Gemulator".' (Richard) Kennerley, Bryan. (A.k.a. "The Android") Crazy Welsh bloke who came pretty close to being an Extravagent English person all on his own, without help of the actual >Extravagent English at all. Always eager to talk about a variety of topics - including guitars, >Malmsteen, sex, kinkiness, perversion, Satriani, TV, England and Steve Vai - he got into a pretty interesting pen pal relationship with Richard, which actually culminated into a brief visit of Bryan to >Utrecht in the summer of 1994 somewhere `You wouldn't believe some of the stuff this guy wrote. But that caused me to go really open with him, too. I don't think I've ever been this open with any ST NEWS readers.' (Richard) Kenwood. The make of Stefan's mighty stereo system. It produced many, many hours of music to sustain Stefan during his long nights of demo coding and also provided music during the many ST NEWS finishing sessions at Stefan's place. Stefan once extolled it in "Lost in the Ken Wood", a short piece published in ST NEWS a long time ago (beginning of 1988, approximately). In Canada, the system has been replaced by a high-end Sony home-theatre Klaxos Nine. Reputedly, the most boring planet in the universe. People consider walking their snails rather too exciting an event, and would much rather spend their few waking hours watching the grass grow.

Simba isn’t just king of Pride Rock (spoiler alert), he’s also reigning at the box office, with The Lion King enjoying a truly mighty opening weekend. Indeed, the live action remake has had the biggest opening weekend ever for any Disney remake, leaving films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book cowering under its majestic roar. The star-studded cast – which boasts Beyoncé herself as Nala – has had cinema goers returning to the Pride Lands in herds, with many left wowed by how utterly gorgeous the film looked. As reported by Sky News, The Lion King clawed in $185 million (£149 million) from almost 5,000 North American cinemas over the course of its opening weekend. Worldwide, The Lion King collected $269 million (£215 million) for a global total of $433 million (£346 million). This is also the second-best US domestic debut of 2019 so far – trailing Avengers: Endgame, which took $357m (£285.5m) in three days. Hakuna Matata indeed. As reported by Reuters, Disney’s president of global distribution, Cathleen Taff, said: We have a lot to celebrate, The Lion King has such a resonance in pop culture that you see all different types of people coming out. People wanted to be part of this. Ik it’s not realistic but I wish this scene was in the live action version of the lion king fndjdnd pic.twitter.com/G6cSx2HIta — queen quen (@quenblackwell) July 21, 2019 Impressive figures aside, many critics have failed to be charmed by this retold children’s tale of fratricide and monarchical upheaval. At the time of writing, The Lion King holds a 54 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 300 reviews, certifying it fit only for the elephant’s graveyard. According to the critics’ consensus: While it can take pride in its visual achievements, The Lion King is a by-the-numbers retelling that lacks the energy and heart that made the original so beloved–though for some fans that may just be enough. my parents and I were salty this wasn’t in the remake of the lion king pic.twitter.com/06dUglSlh2 — zar 💓🤪 (@zennesssy) July 22, 2019 In recent years, there has been much debate amongst cinema fans regarding the necessity of live action remakes. While many nostalgic types enjoy seeing iconic animated scenes recreated ‘realistically’, others have panned Disney for choosing to rehash guaranteed audience pleasers rather than offering fans new, original stories. This criticism looms large within various negative reviews, with many critics arguing The Lion King remake has failed to bring any fresh take to a story we have all seen about one hundred times. As much as I love how cute and cuddly baby Simba looks in the remake, I’m pretty sure this current trend of recycling movies wasn’t what Mufasa had in mind when he waxed philosophical about the circle of life. You can catch The Lion King in cinemas nationwide now. If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected] Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.

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ELO POS Touchscreen Cleaning and Maintenance Any standard glass cleaner can be used to clean the touchscreen connected to Aralco Retail POS terminals, but avoid products containing ammonia.... More Taking care of your fingerprint reader at the POS is simple - while the fingerprint reader is tolerant of residues left on the reader, it performs optimally when kept clean! Catch CashGuard Closed Cash System and Aralco Retail POS in action at the newly opened grocery store in Singapore - you will see how the integrated solution simplifies and secures cash handling at the POS checkouts with the automated bank note and coin dispensing. The routine manual... More Finally, here comes an all-in-one flexible and powerful business tablet - Zebra ET 55, customizable for any job and any environment from retail associates and warehouse workers inside the four walls to salespeople, van sales force and service technicians out in the field. You get the best of both worlds — consumer styling for your workers plus all... More Retail POS Systems requiring high performance can run their applications on Thinkpad X1 Yoga - powerful, yet light and compact, suitable for mobile POS too. Thin and light 14" 2-in-1 convertible, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga supports four flexible usage modes and its stand mode is most ideal for POS processing. Aralco Retail Systems offer multi-purpose data capturing functions with Cipherlab data collector for ease of stock processing at any time and anywhere. - Stock count processing - Sales processing - Sales order processing ... More Each sector demands its own unique features in the retail and wholesale industries. Since 1982, Aralco has worked with industry leaders from different sectors to offer them a powerful and feature-rich Retail Management and POS solution from back office to each point of sale location. A virtual private network is a technology that creates an encrypted connection over a less secure network. The benefit of using a VPN is that it ensures the appropriate level of security to the connected systems when the underlying network infrastructure alone cannot provide it. With over 30 years of experience in the retail industry, Aralco Retail Management and POS Software System has a whole list of great tools to help both B2C and B2B grocery businesses. For the Grocery industry it is imperative that your inventory stays current and accurate, your customers are loyal and you need real-time data visibility for... More Aralco Retail Management & POS Systems allow you to prepare for stock-taking swiftly and accurately by taking a snapshot of your inventory file of a specific location or store... More Aralco POS software system has had evolved the last 30 years and today it is packed with powerful features needed by retailers to stay efficient and productive at the point of sale. One of its key features is the real-time capability to communicate with the main database server automatically with 2-way data interchange over LAN or Internet.... More The Sango Integrated EPOS Terminal is indeed irresistible with an exclusive, innovative concept designed to free up space beneath your terminal’s touchscreen! This new EPOS will adapt to the technical requirements of all users: 4 types of processors are available (including a fanless i5 for boosted performance), as well as a range of connection... More Retail marketing is changing. Today, success means connecting with your most important customer: the omni-channel shopper. Retailers can reap the revenue benefits of omni-channel shopping, but only if they know how to attract and connect with these highly desirable consumers. Doing so requires a deep knowledge of how these shoppers behave. It also requires structuring the... More A Gift Registry is a service provided by a website or retail store, assists engaged couples in the communication of gift preferences, example to wedding guests. Selecting merchandise from store stock, the couple lists desired products and files this list with the chosen merchant. The list is then made available to wedding guests, either by the... More Aralco is a leader in developing solutions for retailers.. Their POS system not only tracks sales and inventory but also archives, tracks, and analyzes literally thousands of types of data related to products, sales statistics,... More An all-in-one Retail Solutions is absolutely an important information technology infrastructure for retailers to leverage on in the continuous optimization of stock turns, human resources, and customer experience. The result is lowering the business cost, better customer services and higher sales revenue through efficiency.... More At IRMCS, we started shipping 64-bit version of Windows 8 Pro with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD since early 2014 as part of our standard configuration on Aralco POS systems. This version will give you optimal point of sale user experience and high speed perfomance at the point of sale. Araclco CMS/Ecommerce development tools is now built into Aralco Retail Management and Point of Sale Systems after 3 years of extensive software research and development in Canada. With this system development, Aralco unifies in-store POS, CMS, on-line store, customer, marketing, inventory, order and finance management on a single platform. Hear what gift retailer, Jennifer from JM Project has to say in her reviews on Aralco POS software and how she feels about the new integration option in Aralco Retail Back Office Systems with her e-commerce. Real-time is the actual time during which a process or event occurs such as input data is processed, and within milliseconds the information becomes available virtually immediately to any employee from back office to each store front. Real-time information are critical for businesses in order to be able to maximize analytic so as to extract accurate... More Retailers can now improve its efficiency further in each retail store with an in-store ZebraZXP3 card printer to print member card, loyalty reward and gift cards at the Aralco point of sale terminal. With this integration, the POS software allows flexible configuration to drive the Zebra card printer, such as: - Load... More A point of sale survey recently conducted by Software Advice, a firm that compares POS technology, has turned up some unexpected results that speak volumes about the state of retailers today. The most common reasons given for wanting to upgrade or install new Point of Sale software included lack of functionality of the current system, a desire to... More The 10 warning signs to replace your Point of Sale (POS) software in order to stay productive, efficient and ahead of competitions: 1. Your offline business isn’t connected to your (current or future) online business 2. Your POS software needs expensive updates or offers no update 3. Your POS user... More Radio frequency ID (RFID) primarily functions like the traditional barcode, but instead of relying on a visual scan on barcode, it uses radio waves and reads data on the RFID tag containing... More Socket Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner (CHS) 7Ci Socket series CHS 7Ci is a wireless barcode scanner certified by Apple for iOS devices and compatible with Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones and tablets. It is the #1 choice for tablet-based retail point of sale ! Socket Bluetooth scanners are... More Zebra manufactures a wide range of mobile printers such as model QLn220, QLn 320 and QLn420. Trust these drop-resistant mobile printers to improve efficiencies throughout operations– in the warehouse, trade events, in-store, van sale... More Omni-channel marketing, which involves a merchant reaching out to customers through both online and physical stores for a seamless shopping experience, is no longer an option for retailers. With Ecommerce taking off in this part of the globe, omni-channel is a must-have platform to retain existing customers and key to reaching out to new customers in the base country and... More Opticians and eyewear staff at the retail store no longer need to spend tiime unnecessarily recording and looking up customer's information, eye prescription data between separate databases or manual records. Real time retail systems refers to its built-in capability in instantly updating any data processing (done at any location) automatically at its central server, such as: - Adding and depleting stock at hand upon goods receiving; transfers of goods between locations; products sold at each POS/store, etc - Summing sales... More IRMCS is thrilled to share with you yet another positive reviews with excellent ratings by MJM Furniture Showcase on Aralco Retail Management and POS software systems: Aralco retail furniture pos software system is... More IRMCS is proud to share this positive reviews with superb ratings on Aralco POS software system by Moe Home Collection, a furniture and home decor retailer in the US and Canada. IRMCS is pleased to share this positive reviews and high ratings by Gary, the business owner of Toy Jungle on Aralco POS software systems. Hear why the toy retailer chooses Aralco solution over other retail pos systems. IRMCS is pleased to share a recent review on Aralco retail pos software system by Glam and Fame, apparel chain store retailer based in Canada - hear why they say "Aralco is the Best POS Solution". Layaway is an in-store system of letting customers secure an article or product by paying a deposit while the retailer "lay" the product "away"in reservation until the payments are completed by the customer. This system is widely offered by retailers in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The term "Layaway"is used in North America and... More Certainly, with a big YES! SSDs have finally reached an affordable level to consider replacing the existing hard disk drive (HDD) on your POS terminal and workstation or ensuring your new POS terminal comes with SSD. Well, if retailers want... More The most ideal retail systems are the perpetual (real-time) ones while batch/off-line systems are just too inefficient for managing today's businesses. In summary, real-time Retail System offers substantial benefits: - Information is always current, accessible anytime anywhere via the Internet ... More

Cujo’s a dog. The blob’s a blob. Freddy is a dream of revenge. What is the ring? The answer is strange: it’s the image. The source of terror, fear, and death is the image. The Ring is an odd and surprising film. Why, after having viewed the tape, does the phone ring? Because the phone call is an image. The phone rips the voice from the body, leaving a spectral trace, an imitation of the person on the other end: an image. When the phone rings in The Ring, then, it is not exterior to the visual image but is the image still happening. The voice through the receiver and the visuals on the screen are part of the same image. The ring of the phone is the heralding of the image. The Ring proffers the great paranoia of the image. It looks like us, it talks like us, it seems to have emotions. Which is to say, the image has a life of its own—but without a body. It doesn’t sleep, it doesn’t eat, it can’t converse. In what is perhaps the creepiest scene in the movie, we see the girl-image under observation, never tiring, never shifting demeanor, never responding. Or, for that matter, becoming frenzied. This particular image may seem pissed off but under the grueling conditions of interrogation it doesn’t get more pissed off. The image is not reasonable and therefore is not unreasonable. An image, it just keeps repeating itself, yielding more images, as if from nowhere, from the play of light and dark that it is. I can see why a parent might think such a child unruly. How can one discipline an image when it won’t listen to reason, when it just keeps on repeating itself? Cut off its supply of light, send it somewhere its sound can’t be heard: drop it down a deep well and cover that well up. Think of the posters for the movie—a ring of darkness, light just making its way through. This is the horror, light emerging from darkness: the birth of the image. This girl-image was not born of woman. But then where did it come from? It wasn’t recorded; it is not a memory or record but is itself a living force. No, it was not recorded: it was always already born, the image of the family, of mommy-daddy-baby. In this nightmare, this paranoia, this cliché-image has only one directive: not watch me, not disseminate me but copy me, copy me over and over and over again without changing a thing. But the image is not so easily bent to the cliché needs of the bourgeois family, the triangulation of mommy-daddy-baby. Look at the video in the film: it is avant-garde cinema. It moves across various planes, horizontal and vertical. There is no triangle here; Oedipus has exploded (pace Lafia). There is no story, no transparent metaphors. In fact, these images are dense, opaque, heavy with shadow and their insistent refusal to slip into a palatable narrative. The film hence presents two fears, two kinds of horror, the double genitive: it is both the horror we experience of the image and the image's horror of experiencing us. There is our fear of the image, of its refusal to bend to story; so lifelike yet utterly devoid of human life, the image makes a most horrific servant and an even more horrific master. And then there is the image’s fear of the narrative, of the cliché that would break it, that make it bend to clear geometric shapes. Perhaps that's why it is so angry. With Bound and The Matrix, the Wachowskis proffer two modes of reckoning cinema, and perhaps all art and maybe even all identity: stealing and poaching. The Matrix is a product of unabashed thievery, a pastiche of visual history, copping innumerable tropes from everything from the spaghetti western to video games. The Wachowskis take whatever they need to invent their universe, chewing up inherited images with abandon. This mastication is not interpretation. The Matrix is not a take on the video game, Street Fighter; it doesn’t interpret The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; we don’t view the work of Sergio Leone differently after seeing the movie. This is not homage to Katheryn Bigelow’s Point Break, even if she taught us that Keanu can run and the camera can follow—closely. No, The Matrix is not homage; it is not a deferential or humble film. It is an entirely new beast born from multiple and disparate parents—a bastard hybrid, if you will. And a virile one: this mule can foal (pace WS Burroughs). This is filmmaking as all-consuming appetite: I’ll take that and that and that, thanks very much. Images are ripped and riffed, a shameless thievery. This is mixing at the limit, the strategy of MixMaster Mike and Christian Marclay, turning the found into sound, forging one’s own territory from the fodder of others. Thievery is beyond the pale of reference just as it is beyond the reach of différance; this intertextuality does not undermine the thief. On the contrary, the thief makes the things of the world so much his own that the terms of propriety shift; the deed is passed as a new world is forged. This is a repetition without memory, a consumption so thorough that while we can perhaps see traces of former identities we can by no means say that these images belong to anyone else, that they belong anywhere else than right there. This is in fact the very plot of the movie. The Matrix is not, as it may seem, about questioning the line between lived and virtual reality. On the contrary, the film secures the line that separates dream from reality, the virtual from the real. We believe Morpheus; we believe that there is a difference between the real and the virtual and we want to make this distinction firm again. It is not until the second film in the series that we are introduced to radical doubt as Morpheus shifts from truth-teller to fanatic, Neo’s powers work against (or is it with?) the machines and even the Oracle herself becomes a questionable source. In the second film, we are sure of nothing. But in the first film, we witness a story of theft just as we watch a theft in motion (that is to say, the film itself). The machines steal the electricity of the humans; the humans steal the machines’ “souls” as they render machines useful, always serving human ends. Competing thieves, then, each trying to steal the other, to consume the other, to turn the other’s mode into one’s own. Isn’t this precisely what the Wachowskis do—take the production of others and put it shamelessly, gleefully, to the production of themselves? Is film machine or human? Perhaps, the Wachowskis tell us, film is the very place where man and machine meet so as to mutually and productively steal from each other: a symbiotic theft forging a new being, a cinebeing. If The Matrix is an exercise in thievery, Bound, the Wachowskis' first feature film, is an exercise in poaching. Unlike The Matrix which is sui generis, Bound is a genre film, a rendering of noir. Here, rather than stealing images, the Wachowskis enter the image economy of an existing genre, making do from within an existing space. For Michel de Certeau, to poach is to create one’s territory within the territory of another not by stealing but by operating, by doing, by moving. Hence, the Wachowskis situate the film at the precise juncture of the economy’s conduits, the passages along which the images circulate. As the film poaches on noir’s familiar images—desire, greed, crime, the underworld—, the camera follows the diverse paths of their circulation: down pipes, through Doppler’s rippling effect on toilet water, through walls inflected with prejudice and assumption, carried along vibration, obscured by habit. The plot turns on the ability or inability to read these signs so as to make something happen—to get rich, to survive, to love. Caesar, the mobster, is utterly oblivious to his girlfriend’s lesbianism (until it is too late); after all, she’s so feminine. Hence the ex-con tomboy lesbian, Corky, also mis-reads Violet, the moll. After all, she’s so feminine. But Violet, like the film itself, is a poacher, inhabiting the skin of the mobster moll in order to make her own way. She even whores, a sign that, to Corky, confirms Violet’s heterosexuality. But as de Certeau claims, poaching is the strategy of those without property, of the conquered, those stripped of space of their own place. Poachers appear to be acting in a familiar way; they exhibit all the “right” signs, like the worker who sits at his computer, ever dutiful, all the while writing his novel. Poachers make use of the signs of others but in their own way, to their own ends, for their own pleasure. Violet sleeps with men as a way of making money in order to one day slip away and forge her own property. In the meantime, she operates on the territory of the known, exhibiting all the right signs even as she creates her own world from within the world of others. But it is a world that only exists in the going, in the decisions; Violet cannot make a world that is strictly speaking her own. So she makes her way through the territory of others, poaching on their signs as she pleasures herself. Bound, like Violet, poaches on the territory of the known, on the familiar signs of noir. The film crawls into noir and kicks around with a certain perverse delight, engaging the known signs only to send them astray (but not too far; take a sign too far astray from its home and you become a thief), extending noir’s images according to its own sapphic appetite, This is quite different from The Matrix which consumes images with another kind of delight, the delight of making the world one’s own, of no longer having to tread on someone else’s territory: the delight of stealing. Spatial orientation in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (and the life aquatic) comes from what Deleuze and Guattari call a “chancy formation of a domain.” Team Zissou is a territorializing assemblage that actively seeks chance. With red hats, speedos, and Glocks strapped to their legs, they announce themselves—post their placards, Deleuze and Guattari would say. This territory is not grounded in the known—none of them are experts. The public may keep looking for the brains behind the operation but this brain is a multiplicity, a network of amateurs, ever-moving, anchoring temporarily here and there. But the Team never looks very comfortable on land. This territory is aquatic: it drifts with the tides, currents, with the multiple flows of events—pirates, zebra sharks, pilfering as the need arises, riding the waves. The territory opens itself to the risks of its own dissolution, from within as well as from without. The cash may dry up, the audience may turn away, mutiny lurks. Steve Zissou has trouble maintaining his own poise amidst these drifts. But what is it that threatens Team Zissou? Why has the money dried up and the audience turned away? What is it that Steve has presumably lost? It’s that he is not within an eddy of spectacular events. One great risk of a territory unmoored, of a territory fed by chance, is that sometimes not very much happens. As Steve declares, running to the ship, "Nobody knows what's gonna happen and then we film it. That's the whole concept." Only a certain chaos-–and not any chaos–can keep this territory from dissolving. The film is itself a territorializing operation that occurs at the site of the image. This image is not anchored to a storyline, to characters, to anything outside what we see and feel. The film opens on a stage but not any stage. It’s a baroque event ripe with the signs of a certain culture: we should be seeing an opera. But the film rolls, framed by the velvet folds of the curtain and, lo and behold, we see images that should be in our living rooms, running on PBS—an educational film. This is indeed an education, an introduction to new categories, new ways of going: this is an education in aqueous viewing. Here, the distinction between art and science gives way. This is a gay science, where discovery and presentation walk hand in hand. Every time Team Zissou dives and discovers, we next see them in the cutting room of the on-board studio. Knowledge and the reel are inseparable in this watery world. It's all reel and the reel is drifting. The image remains unmoored as we leave the screening within our screening and are introduced to the various characters. Rather than encountering signs that announce who everyone is—the zany one, the smart one, the mean one—we learn only as much as the image will tell. Who are these people? How do they relate to each other? Their relations are the images. Steve tells us that Hennessey is his nemesis. But his delivery is so deadpan that no tension is created, that the very status of “nemesis” is up for grabs. A relationship exists but it will not follow any familiar trajectory. In their last exchange, Hennessey pulls Steve aside after learning that Steve stole his equipment. We assume he’ll be angry. But that’s not what transpires: he pulls Steve aside, commiserates, hugs him. Not one word uttered in this movie can be predicted. Relationships are murky, fuzzy. They emerge at the site of the image; we see the relations. The backstory will not suffice. There are no types as even the Bond Company Stooge sticks his neck out, eluding the one type the film flaunts. The film opens on a stage and never leaves it. Whatever held the distinction between acting and reality, between the artificial and the real, has given way—if there ever was such a distinction. There is no on-camera and off-camera; the camera is always rolling just as the projector’s always playing. The ship exists as much on a set as it does on the water. When Steve and his faux-son, Ned, talk for the first time, they step towards the camera and as they talk the image bobs up and down with the swell of the waves. When they crash, blood gets on the lens. The camera does not capture what happens; it’s always on. The film is the life aquatic, a liquid life where orientation and fixed distinctions are hard to come by. There’s no outside the frame. And what makes orientation even harder is that, like Steve, we can’t breathe underwater—however much we’d like to. There is a thread of accusation that Team Zissou fakes their stunts. But neither Steve Zissou nor the film itself is able to take the accusation seriously. The one so-called real thing—the natural underwater life—is already fake, and conspicuously so! The very question of what’s real and what’s artificial vanishes in an impossibly swift woosh, a vanishing so fast it happens before we come to it. When the journalist provokes Steve by suggesting that Steve killed his friend, Estaban, it’s in order to get a picture! It’s all a current of images. Father and son are not linked by blood or by love but by the image. What does Ned know of Steve? Only his image. And what of Ned and his sincerity? His accent and his outfit are straight out of Gone with the Wind: his impossibly Southern aristocrat is as real as the fish in the film. It’s not that he fakes his accent; it’s that there’s no real. He is always already an image. The film flirts with story—revenge, father-son, husband-wife, love story, the rise of a fallen star. But none of these will suffice. It's as if the narrative trajectories can't find their legs in this liquid world and, as the water permeates, as the tides rise and fall, the certain direction of the storylines is sent astray. Every narrative track drifts: Ned is not Steve’s son and dies anyway, ending any love story that may also have been brewing; the shark is never killed or even engaged—it’s viewed. And while Steve’s star does rise again, we know he is an adventurer and he is just as likely to fall as he is to rise. In the life aquatic, what do such orientations as up and down even mean? All narrative possibilities are adrift, unmoored from any prescribed path. As Steve says at the film’s close, “This is an adventure.” The film is the forging of propriety on the fly, emerging at the site of the image itself then giving way to something else: a flow. The relationships happen as the images happen. Narrative is neither subverted nor determinative; it is a possibility amongst possibilities, a trajectory that may emerge but as the tide rises and falls and currents shift all trajectories founder, meander, find themselves somewhere new. There are no fathers here. As Zissou tells Ned, "I hate fathers and I never want to be one." We never see or hear the father of Jane Winslett-Richardson’s child-to-be. In fact, she proclaims that she needs to find a baby for this father. When Klaus Daimler tells Steve that he’s always thought of him as a father, Steve tells Klaus he’s always thought of him as a brother. Anyway, Steve shoots blanks—probably from living over half his life under water! The life aquatic will not allow for a patriarchy, even with a man at the helm. When the jaguar shark is finally found and Steve comes running into the room to rile the troops, no one even bats an eye. The film never comes to a point, to a phallocentric climax. It can’t: there's no firm ground on which to stand. The image is unmoored and we're right on the edge, not knowing what comes next. This life is adrift. David Shrigley does not make monumental art. He scribbles little black line doodles while scrawling the doodle’s linguistic equivalent, cross-outs and all. His artistic production is not a matter of punctuated epiphanies, great works emerging now and then from the well of his genius. In fact, one might ask of Shrigley: where does a work begin and end? The world of art has certainly seen the series, a production that expresses itself over several works, maybe even many works. And there are no doubt plenty of examples of work that have surprising physical and temporal borders. Think of Yoko Ono asking the audience to meet again years later to reconstitute an object it’s just disassembled. Neither of these conditions qualify or explain Shrigley’s work. His production is not serial per se in that we cannot isolate unique trajectories stipulated by theme or motif, conceptual or aesthetic. Or, if we could, the task would be absurd at best and uninteresting at worst. This is not to say this his work is not of an ilk. On the contrary, his work is so much of an ilk that it forms neither discrete objects nor discrete series. His work is what we might call an open whole, a self-forging series; each piece is the body of the work, much as everything a person says is part and parcel of that person, extends the limits of that person. A conspicuous component of Shrigley’s work is that it’s always talking, saying something. Now, perhaps we can say that all art is saying something, that even a Rothko is articulate. And, yes, this is true. But Shrigley’s art speaks in a different register, a surprising register for a work of art: it speaks like a person standing next to you might speak. His work not only has character; his work is character. It behaves like a person behaves; we laugh or pooh-pooh or snicker as we would if this were a person. Which is to say, we don’t listen to this work as though it were art, at least not initially, at least not solely. We may say: “O, that Shrigley! I love (or hate) his irreverence.” But that is an engagement that happens after the work and, perhaps, despite the work. We hear his work first and foremost as we hear a person. And yet this person is not Shrigley; this person is the work. Which is to say, this person is not a person at all. It is certainly not Shrigley, then, who’s irreverent. On the contrary, Shrigley is like Dr. Frankenstein: he’s created a new life, a life born of line and paper and nothing else. His work is this strange adolescent, perhaps moronic, life of black lines. But it is a life—an odd life, yes, a life without a body, a life that is nothing but its expression. Shrigley has created a character utterly devoid of flesh. Maybe that’s why this character, like Frankenstein’s monster, is rather socially ill suited. The work stays in character. It never points to a person who lurks behind or within or next to the work; Shrigley never peers around the back of the paper to wink or look at us knowingly. Shrigley’s work is not expressive; as viewers, we are not witness to the wealth of the artist’s sentiment or even to his worldview. This is not DuChampian prank-cum-commentary. Nor is it the punk politics of, say, the Situationists or jodi.org. In fact, Shrigley is nowhere to be found in his art. Shrigley puts forth a character, a character without a body other than the art itself. This work is pure character, severed from the biological, from the flesh as well as from the soul. All we’re left with is expression, an expression that does not express anything other than itself, a character and only a character—a most peculiar creation. Of course, when we read books we seem to witness bodies without bodies, characters without flesh. And yet these characters who we only see and know through their words still have bodies, bodies that lurk before, above, behind, or after the text. The characters we hear talking and see doing things maintain their bodies even if we’re only privy to words. One way to say this is that literature tends to express life rather than being pure expression. In most literature, we are speaking to someone on the other side of the words. We read the book as a portal that opens onto real life, even if that real life is nothing but the feelings and worldview of the author. There are exceptions. In Borges, for instance, or Clarice Lispector’s Agua Viva and perhaps in Nabokov’s Ada and Lolita and Pale Fire. In these all-too-rare examples (there are no doubt many, many more but still, given the number of books, the number remains quite small), the language does not give way to a real body: all we have is the text, text so rich and complex and ripe with nuance and tics and smell that the text itself becomes the character. Lolita is not a person in the world; she is made of words, of nothing but words, a creature of language and only of language. She may be Nabokov’s creation but she does not express Nabokov’s feelings. Nor is she a concept or a symbol. She is an affect woven of words. (This is why any attempt to visualize her in a film fails; she is not made of light but of language.) Shrigley’s work, like Lolita, is a character without biology. His work does not give way to anything but itself; it will not become the flesh of a person, not even the flesh of Shrigley. Nor will it ever become a concept or enunciation of universal human experience: it is not expressive of an experience. Rather, it is expression and nothing but expression. With a distinctly adolescent stubbornness, it persists where it is. No matter how many times you ask it, it will not get down off that paper. And what’s even stranger than this character without a body who keeps talking is that it’s talking to someone—but not to the viewer. It may at times seem like it’s speaking to us. But any sense of direct address is readily dispelled as we’re told we haven’t paid a phone bill or something to that effect. While we stand in front of this work, it speaks right over our shoulder, to someone who is at once always absent and always present. It is an odd experience to look at art that is not looking at, or even talking to, you. I think of Velasquez’s Las Meninas. When we first approach it, it seems as though we are its vanishing point as the painter peeks from behind his canvas to survey us. And then, in the same instant, we see the mirror and in it the reflection of the king and queen, sitting precisely where we’re standing. Our position as viewer shifts from being the object of the painting’s gaze to being absolutely excluded. What makes this experience so peculiar is that it is not temporal; these two positions are not sequential, even if our realization of them is. What’s so strange is that both vanishing points exist at the same time while remaining thoroughly disjunctive. It is quite uncanny. Shrigley’s work is of another order all together. We will never have been included. Nor is there any implicit comment on the viewing of art, as Velasquez’s work seems to offer. We are not voyeurs for that would suggest a mode of our inclusion as well as a desired privacy by the work; neither happens here. In Shrigley’s work, what we get is much stranger: a conversation between disembodied characters, a conversation that goes right over our heads (or next to them or below them), a conversation without conversers: the conversing and nothing but the conversing. Shrigley’s work casts quite a peculiar relationship between artist, art, and viewer. For Shrigley, art will never have been a question of the artist expressing himself. Rather than the artist turning inward in order to create, this artist looks nowhere but outward. This art is not an excavation put an extroversion, a reaching to see what will come, to see what might happen, to see what might be born. This is not an attempt to use art as a vehicle of expression, this is not a conduit between artist and viewer. We do not learn anything about Shrigley per se because he’s not telling us anything about himself. The artwork is not the communion of artist and viewer. In fact, neither artist nor viewer can be found at the site of the art. When we come to it, we find a life already in progress, a life that does not speak to us, a life that makes no effort to communicate directly with us and yet is not withdrawn, solipsistic, introverted. We don’t identify with this character as in, “Oh, how true! That’s just like I am or I was or I want to be.” This character is, as they say, an other. We are always on the outside of this work, an outside that does not allow for a looking in because there’s no in in there. This is expression, always on the outside, happening with or without us. This is not to say we cannot enjoy it. I, for one, love this work. Our enjoyment, however, stems not from consumption and its attending realizations but from a non-voyeuristic witnessing. This work does not reverberate with the resonance of truth, whether it’s the truth of life or the truth of the art world. And, as we’ve said, this is not irreverent art, as if Shrigley were challenging the status of art or flipping the bird to the art world. Nor is it beautiful, even if at times it is truly beautiful—this character is full of surprises. But this work does not work, if you will, based in its beauty. It works by constantly working, just as we live by constantly living. Shrigley’s work is pure expression. It exists in and of the expression and nowhere else. Hence, when we open a Shrigley book, we don’t see records of the art that exists elsewhere. These are not monographs. In fact, it is impossible to create a monograph of his work: how can you capture an expression without in turn becoming an expression? That is to say, as the work is expression, every expression of his work is his work; any attempt to make a monograph necessarily becomes the work working. This is why his web site (www.davidshrigley.com), a veritable expressive explosion, overflows with work—because it is the work. His work does not need a gallery, a museum, a wall; it happens in its expression, wherever and whenever that takes place. But this is not Keith Haring’s graffiti-art on-the-fly, happening wherever it happens. Haring’s familiar dancing figures have character but they are not a character. This is what makes Shrigley’s work so strange: all these different pieces conspire, work together, to forge a more or less coherent whole. And this whole does not behave as those other artistic wholes behave—this is not just a style or an oeuvre (even if it is both of those as well): it is a character, a life without a body, a life that exists in its expression, in its conversation with someone who’s not you. What, then, are the limits of Shrigley’s work? They are the limits of a life. Each piece is distinct, sure, but each piece is this strange character happening, on the wall, on the web, in the book, in a slide show in a classroom. Perhaps, then, I was wrong to say that his work is not monumental. In fact, this may be the most monumental art of all: life freed from the flesh. Marshall McLuhan tells us that technology is an extension of the body. But could it be the other way around? Look at Andreas Gursky’s photographs. How is it precisely these images see? This is not a vantage point anyone could enjoy. And we’re not just referring to the spatial perspective, a perspective that is strange enough, an impossible perspective, a perspective that could only come from somewhere else—from a UFO, perhaps. We’re referring to how these images see, how they gather up the world. What kind of seeing is this? Everything is in equal focus. There is no center, no place that is distinguished from any other place. There is no hierarchy. Which is to say, there are no categories, there is no knowing, not even a concept. Nothing is an example of anything else such as, say, a concert or mountain or swimming pool. Gursky’s images are stupid. The human and the natural are splayed along a common plane, as if these eyes—or at least this seeing—could not distinguish between human flesh and a rock. When this seeing takes up a concert or a mountain or a soccer field or a swimming pool, it can’t distinguish between people, trees, lines in the terrain. Everything that enters the visual is just another mark, an inflection of space, a modulation of light. Even a shelf of Prada shoes is stripped of its cultural or iconic or referential currency. When the title utters, “Prada,” it’s not a declaration or dead pan commentary but an almost child-like babble: Prada. These images do not come from human eyes, from eyes enmeshed in the world. There are no referents; these are not records or monuments (even if the images are monumental). They are not expressive of anything; they do not proffer commentary on the contemporary or the dehumanization of life. Nothing has been captured; no experience has been recorded. These images are so thoroughly stupid that the human, like all other categories, never coheres, never assumes categorical distinction. No, these are not human eyes that see. Nor are they divine. After all, God is omniscient; He certainly knows the difference between a human and a rock. It’s not even the view from Olympus for while Zeus may not be omniscient, he certainly dabbles in human affairs enough to know what’s what. This seeing comes from an impossible place; these eyes are neither human nor divine. They are alien eyes. This is not an extension of our eyes but a fundamentally different way of viewing. This is an invitation to the strange. This is what makes Gursky’s photographs so foreboding: when we look at them, we are not witnessing an extension of our own eyes. Nor are we looking at anything per se; these images do not proffer objects. When we look at a Gursky photograph we are not seeing things but seeing seeing, a kind of looking. Or rather, we see a seeing and hence see as this seeing does. To view Gursky’s images is to see as an alien; to view Gurksy’s images is to become alien. Gursky’s images are not really photographs in that they are not images taken by someone, somewhere. Gursky does not capture what he sees. On the other hand, maybe these are the only photographs in that they see as the camera sees—indifferently, stupidly, everything in focus. Gursky offers us camera-vision, utterly indifferent, without categorical distinctions other than the modulation of the visible. Gursky rids his art of the human, takes himself out of the picture, as it were, and lets the camera do the seeing, photographs without photography, without a photographer. This is why his images share such an affiliation with surveillance photos, photos without a photographer, without consideration, an anonymous visual sweep. (One may object that these images have been created—modified—by computer software and that, therefore, they are not camera-views. But that is to assume that the camera begins and ends with the lens. Photoshop does not come after the image; it is the camera still working.) As one views Gursky’s images, then, one sees as a camera; one becomes a camera. Technology is no longer an extension of the body; the body becomes an extension of the technology. Is alien-vision the same as camera-vision? Clearly not: while the camera is stupid, the alien may enjoy a different kind of thinking, an unrecognizable thinking, an organization of time and space and knowledge that eludes our perception, like the “certain Chinese encyclopedia” that Borges stumbles on. That is, whereas the camera doesn’t categorize at all, the alien enjoys impossible categorizations. And yet the alien and the camera share a non-human mode of seeing. To see as a camera sees, just as to see as an alien sees, is no longer to see as a human: it is to become something else. We discuss vulnerability, parenting, the awful equation of parenting with worry, dyslexia, creating new narratives of the self, grief, Lei... It's a luxury to read great books, films, works of art. You get to jump in, kick around, then stand back and think while the thing s... Arkady Plotnitsky who taught me Derrida in Philadelphia in 1989. When I was in college, I took a class on Derrida taught by the impecca... A thing is one thing that is many things. It is an assemblage point — a gathering together of diverse elements in a particular way. A rock ... The set up is familiar: good girls flirt with bad, get in over their heads, learn a lesson — with some boobs and teen exploitation along ... 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Howdy, Whatnauts! Graeme and Matt came so strongly out of the gate with their posts—and unlike me, they didn’t even take any time off from posting at the end of the year—so I feel both… Whew! Hey, Whatnauts, Jeff here. My apologies for getting this up a bit later than usual: ironically, part of the reason is that I’m trying a new method for editing the podcast that should make it faster. (The other part of the reason is that I caught a double feature of Lady Snowblood movies at the New Mission Cinema and ate deviled eggs and drank milkshakes with booze in them and it was pretty god-damned great.) And that said, I should warn you there is the growing likelihood that the responsibilities in my day job may be changing in the very near future and Graeme and I have been trying to figure out how to make sure we still manage to deliver Wait, What? quality in a timely way. I hope you remain patient with me as I go through the process of working all that out. Fortunately, you have lots of excellent, high quality writing from Graeme and Matt to keep you happy in the meantime. Anyway, enough of that. Let’s get shownoting, shall we? 0:00-6:24: The greeting thing (this time with proper microphones); the Three Stages of Muppet; Muppets Most Wanted; Disney’s trifecta of the Muppets, Star Wars and Marvel. 6:24-17:10: Discussions of pop culture cocktails leads us to talk about Lego Dimensions, the video game IP orgy competitor to Disney Infinity. And this leads to a discussion about the crossovers you stage with your own toys as opposed to officially sanctioned IP crossover play. Also discussed: playing with action figures (in which Jeff accidentally mentions using Star Wars figures to fill in as SHIELD agents when he really meant using Star Wars figures); the scramble for new action figures for Return of the Jedi; which leads to discussing… 17:10-25:15: Jeff loves the fact that Star Wars fans love the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back even though, as Graeme points out, even Boba Fett doesn’t appear for more than ten minutes total in the films. Also discussed: George Lucas’s dislike of Boba Fett; Lucas’s official slogan for the making of the prequels; and the ballad of General Grievous. 25:15-49:18: We segue so organically it’s actually hard to chop it up, but if you want to hear Graeme and Jeff argue about whether Star Wars is an epic about redemption or an anti-redemption without a lot of action figure talk, you can start here. Please note we talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens just a teeny tad and, depending on your view, we either do not spoil a darn thing or we talk about stuff that can lead the overheated mind to make some suppositions it might consider spoiler-y? As Graeme points out, it’s probably not a big deal since everyone who’s wanted to see TFA by now already has BUT JUST IN CASE here’s your soft spoiler warning. Discussed: whether or not Star Wars is pro- or anti-redemption; the handling of Jedi in the prequels; Jeff is a big fan of the theory put forward by Chris Ready over at his awesome Disaster Year 20xx blog about Return of the Jedi, where Graeme has a different view about the film, and is armed with facts in hand from his recent read of J.W. Rinzler’s Making of Star Wars books; the Ewoks in Vietnam; and Jeff’s discussion of the real phantom behind The Phantom Menace. 49:18-1:04:48: “Whatnauts,” sez Graeme, “once again, this is a podcast about comic books where we’ve talked about Star Wars for the first forty-eight minutes.” And he’s got a point! So we change up to talk about Batman #48 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, and the high strangeness that is “Superheavy,” the current arc. Discussed: the scene between two characters by the side of a lake; Mr. Bloom as DC Comics; Snyder’s metatext reaching the levels of Morrison’s Calvin Ellis issue of Action; Snyder’s take on Batman and Morrison’s take on Batman as it reflects their views on depression; and more. 1:04:48-1:19:18: Talking about Morrison’s darker works, we talk about Nameless #6 by Morrison and Burnham. FULL SPOILERS, I think we give it all away—in our vague sort of way—and I’ll tell you now one of us thought it was great, and another of us…did not. 1:19:18-1:34:17: And as long as we’re running through the hall of mirrors, let’s move from Snyder to Morrison to the first three issues of Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque’s Huck, which Graeme read all at a go, and he gets a chance to compare and contrast it a bit with Valiant’s Faith #1 by Jody Houser, Francis Portela & Marguerite Sauvage. Pop quiz: which book do you think Graeme described as “weirdly cynical for a comic that theoretically should be the opposite” and which got described as “utterly fucking delightful”? And this leads us to talk about other books that are working in the absurd and delightful parts of town, and how they differ from other previous, more self-conscious works. 1:34:17-1:54:05: And this leads us to a discussion about Spider-Gwen, particularly Radioactive Spider-Gwen #4 which Jeff has read. His take on the reasons for the book’s tone are quite different from Graeme’s and quite possibly far less generous. And from there we talk about which books we’re reading in All-New, All-Different Marvel and whether or not Marvel Unlimited actually raises the bar for books we’re willing to pay money for. Discussed: Star Wars, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat, Vision, Spidey, Spider-Man/Deadpool, The Ultimates, the upcoming Power Man and Iron Fist, and more. 1:54:05-2:10:28: And although we are just about out of time, Jeff cannot resist asking Graeme what he thinks about the IDW reboot of Judge Dredd by Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas, and Dan McDaid, in no small part because that and a ton of time spent playing the Judge Dredd pinball game, Jeff has a question he doesn’t know the answer to: What makes for “good” Judge Dredd? 2:10:28-end: Closing comments! Look for us on Stitcher!Itunes! Twitter together and separately: Graeme and Jeff! Matt! Tumblr! And, of course, where, as of this count, 115 patrons make this whole thing possible! Our special thanks to the kind crew at American Ninth Art Studios for their continuing support of this podcast, as well as our continuing special thanks to the Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy…and to all 113 of our supporters on Patreon who make our show possible. Next week: There’s a break but we’ll back in two weeks with Wait, What? Ep. 194. The march to Episode 200 has begun! (Well, technically it started around episode one, but let’s not quibble.)

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Here’s a great idea… to celebrate World Kindness Day on Monday 13th November, Lionsgate are screening their brand new family drama Wonder in your local cinema for free! Lionsgate UK will join in the spirit of the day by welcoming audiences across the country to free preview screenings of Lionsgate’s Wonder more than two weeks ahead of its December 1st UK release. Members of the public will have the opportunity to be amongst the first to see the inspiring, heart-warming film in over 300 cinemas nationwide for one day only. Starring Academy Award(r) winner Julia Roberts, Oscar(r) nominee Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay and based on R.J Palacio’s New York Times bestseller, Wonder tells the story of August Pullman. Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the local fifth grade. As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all struggle to find their compassion and acceptance, Auggie’s extraordinary journey will unite them all and prove you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out. In order to attend a free screening of Wonder simply head to www.wondermovie.co.uk and select your local cinema to download your free tickets. Tickets must be booked by 5pm GMT November 13th. Wonder is directed by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) from a screenplay by Chbosky, Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) and Jack Thorne (This is England ’90). The film also stars Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Izabela Vidovic (Homefront). If you want to learn more about Changing Faces, their in-kind partner in conjunction with World Kindness Day please visit www.changingfaces.org.uk Check out a special message from Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson below, and let us know in the comments section if you plan to #ChooseKind and see Wonder on the 13th November.